Zenith, Diamond banks drive forex disbursement with $41.2m
Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc disbursed the highest volume of foreign exchange (forex) worth $41.2 million to 802 customers cut across different segments of the economy, published forex utilisation data for last week showed.
The funds were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and sold to the beneficiary customers at the official rate of N197.50 to dollar. The beneficiaries used the funds to the importation of goods, services and other items that fall within the CBN-stipulated import approval list.
Zenith Bank Plc took the lead with $24,547, 235.36 allocations disbursed to key players in the economy ranging from manufacturing, oil and gas, school fees payment as well as Personal Travel Allowances (PTAs) and Business Travel Allowances (BTAs).
The bank gave the lion share of $4.4 million to Dangote Gropu of Companies (Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour Mills Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery) among others. The funds were disbursed to the company in 13 tranches for Letters of Credit (LCs) approved for the importation of different production raw materials ranging from spares parts for textile machines, cement plant machinery, roll crusher plants among others.
Another $2 million allocation went to Oando Marketing Plc for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) import. The funds were disbursed in two tranches of $1 million each.
Zenith Bank financed a total of 472 items within the CBN import approved list. Of this, payment for school fees abroad got the highest allocation in terms of volume, but it also sold dollars to some of its corporate customers for visible items such as the importation of raw materials, pharmaceutical and agricultural products, among others.
Diamond Bank Plc funded imports worth $16,872,037.50 for 330 customers. Swift Oil Limited; Dozzy Oil & Gas Limited; Rahamaniya Oil & Gas Limited and Obat Oil & Petroleum Limited and got $2.2 million; $1.5 million; $1.41 million and $1.25 million respectively for the importation petroleum and gas products. The bank also made several allocations to individuals and companies needing the funds for school fees, BTAs, PTA among others.
The next was Access Bank Plc which got and disbursed about $12.5 million to 184 customers that cut across oil and gas, education, manufacturing among others. The lion share of $6 million went to MRS for gasoline import followed by Blakeney Management which received$1.5 million for school fees payment among others. The Nation