Non-existing entities, other infractions make up $2.4bn FX backlog – Cardoso

PUNCH

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Olayemi Cardoso, has said that about $2.4bn of the $7bn foreign exchange backlog he met when he got into office were from non-existing entities, requests without import documents among other infractions.

Cardoso said this on Monday during an interview on Arise TV, where he addressed concerns about the recent volatility in the currency market.

He said, “Approximately, $7bn was what we were told that the obligations were and we looked at this and commenced the process of paying with the meagre resources as we had them. Settling some which believed were valid and due for payment. This wasn’t something we could just do in one shot. It had to take a bit of time.

“As we went along, we had reasons to believe that we needed to take a harder look at these obligations. So, we contracted Deloitte management consultants to do a forensic of all these obligations and actually tell us what was valid and what was not. Of course, we are committed to paying all valid transactions.”