CBN raises N1Trillion Seed Fund to kick start Infracorp, January 2022
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has disclosed that N1 trillion in seed funding has been pulled together for the infrastructure company, Infracorp, to kickstart operations by January 2022.
Emefiele also hinted that its Naira4Dollar scheme has seen remittance into the country grow from $5 million per week in June to over $100 million per week
In his keynote address at the 2021 Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) annual dinner, Emefiele said N1 trillion has been provided as seed funds by the promoters to support the operations of Infracorp.
He revealed that four fund managers, as well as a management team have been selected to run and manage Infracorp.
“Over the next two months, Infracorp will kick off its operations by targeting strategic infrastructure projects that would help catalyze further growth of our economy,” he said.
Infracorp, according to him, is expected to raise over N15 trillion to support investment in critical infrastructure in Nigeria.
Emefiele explained that the several policies of the apex bank on foreign exchange has seen inflow of forex rise on the investors and exporters window as well as on the part of remmitance.
The Apex Bank boss noted that “Remittance inflows have been supported by our naira for dollar program, and we have seen a surge in remittance inflows from over $5 million per week in June 2020 to over $100 million per week in October 2021.
“As a result of our demand management policy, the naira has remained largely stable around N411 per dollar at the I&E window particularly since the discontinuation of forex allocation to Bureau De Change operators along with the convergence between the CBN and NAFEX rates.
“Banks are now able to meet the demands of their customers seeking forex for SMEs, school fees, medical and PTAs, which has reduced the need of customers to rely on alternative providers of foreign exchange. Average daily forex turnover at the I&E window is now over $250 million, up from $40 million in April 2020.”
