President of Association of Foreign Airlines and
Representatives in Nigeria, AFARN, Mr Kingsley Nwokeoma, who spoke to Vanguard,
called for evidence of payment.
Nwokeoma said: “If they’ve paid, they should let us know how
much has been paid. Where is the evidence of payment? They should show us
evidence of payments and we will thank them because payment is what we want.
The backlog of trapped funds made foreign airlines stop releasing low inventory
tickets.”
Nwokeoma also said although foreign airlines have been told
to get their funds from the banks using the rate of the I & E window, they
refused because the current I & E window rate differed from what they used
in selling tickets.
Last night, Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs
Hakama Sidi Ali, in a statement, said CBN had concluded the payment of $1.5
billion to settle obligations to bank customers, effectively settling the
residual balance of the FX backlog.
Ali stated: “The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that
all valid foreign exchange backlogs have now been settled, fulfilling a key
pledge of the CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to process an inherited backlog
of $7bn in claims.
“Clearance of the foreign exchange transactions backlog is
part of the overall strategy detailed in last month’s Monetary Policy Committee
meeting to stabilise the exchange rate and thereby curb imported inflation,
spurring confidence in the banking system and the economy.”
With $812.2 million, Nigeria tops the countries that account
for 68.0 per cent of blocked funds. Others are Bangladesh ($214.1 million),
Algeria ($196.3 million), Pakistan ($188.2 million) and Lebanon ($141.2
million).
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