‘Funds must be used in 72 hours’ — CBN announces naira-yuan swap guidelines

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says funds received under the Naira-Yuan Swap Agreement must be utilised within 72 hours.

In a document titled Regulations for Transactions with Authorised Dealers in Renminbi, the apex bank said funds not utilised within the period must be returned for repurchase.

The document, which was released on Thursday, was signed by Alvan Ikoku, director, financial markets department.

The regulator said it might conduct bi-weekly trading sessions to ensure liquidity for trade and direct investment between the two countries.

In the guidelines, all commercial and merchant banks were mandated to open Renminbi bank accounts and provide details to the CBN.

Nigeria had signed a Naira-Yuan swap deal worth $2.5billion with China to reduce the demand for dollars by Nigerians importing from China, reduce barriers and cost of transactions.

“Authorised dealers shall open Renminbi accounts with a corresponding bank and advise CBN with its Renminbi account details which may either be with a bank onshore or offshore China,” CBN said.

“Importers intending to import from China shall obtain Proforma invoice denominated in Renminbi as part of the documents required for the registration of Form M.

“FX purchase in the window shall not be used for payments on transactions in which the beneficiaries are not in China.

“Authorised dealers shall not open domiciliary accounts denominated in Renminbi for customers.”

The apex bank said the deal will not affect import and export levies. Authorised dealers were also warned that they might not earn more than 50 kobo in a customer’s bid.