The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has expressed concern over the non-implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive to banks in the country to allocate 60 per cent of their foreign exchange (FX) to manufacturers.

MAN said manufacturers were yet to access the much-needed FX to boost operations in the real sector of the economy.

The president of MAN, Dr. Frank Jacobs said yesterday that most of its members were still dependent on the parallel market to source for their FX requirements, which he said had forced several of its members to close shop or reduce capacity utilisation.

According to the MAN president, banks had refused to implement this policy since the central bank was yet to make FX available at the interbank market, stressing that the banks source FX through alternative means.

He said: “Implementation has been very poor. We had a meeting with the CBN governor where he said there was a directive to banks to allocate 60 per cent of the FX to manufacturers, but after engaging them we were told they source for FX from alternative sources and not from the CBN, so the central bank cannot decide who they must make FX available to.

“Government should make more FX is available if it really wants the 60 per cent allocation to manufacturers to materialise.”

The MAN boss, during his annual media lunch, also expressed concern over the recent trade liberalisation agreement signed by the federal government, saying that Nigeria was at a disadvantaged position due to its harsh and unfriendly operating environment for businesses.

Read More: https://www.today.ng/business/industry/251037/banks-flouting-cbns-directive-forex-allocation-manufacturers-man