Naira To Strengthen Further As Dangote Industries Repatriates $688m From African Operations

Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) on Sunday announced its repatriation of over $687.98 million, including $576 million through Nigerian banks and a $111.97 million cash swap with Ethiopian Airlines.

In a statement, the company reaffirmed its confidence in Nigeria’s economic prospects under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, adding that it is upbeat about further rebound of the Naira, especially as DIL’s African investments start to bring forex back into the country.

Prime Business Africa reports that within the last one week, exchange rate gap between the official and parallel segments of the foreign exchange market narrowed by more than a half, peaking at N226.72 per dollar on Friday from N494 a week earlier.

Following a decline in the demand for dollars, the Naira rallied against the dollar on the black market to 1,020/$, compared to a low of 1,310/$ the previous week. This was as it depreciated on the official market to N793.28/$ on Thursday as against N786.02/$ the preceding day.

Dangote Industries used its statement to call on relevant government agencies to review its foreign exchange transactions over the past decade and make public any irregularities that were noticed or discovered.

“We are not body-shop investors. We believe in Nigeria, and we believe in Africa. We are genuine and authentic about our investments, and we call on all relevant agencies to investigate our FX transactions in the past 10 years and make public any infraction noticed or discovered.”

The company went on to assert that all foreign currencies used for its Africa Project Expansion were authentic and used as planned, pointing out that the projects were visible for everyone to see.

According to Dangote, some of the projects were commissioned by Nigeria’s top government officials, with chief executives of banks, captains of industry, and presidents of host countries in attendance, supported by senior government officials.

“It is on record that some of these projects were commissioned by Nigerian top-ranking government officials, and in attendance were chief executives of various banks, captains of industries, and the presidents of the host countries, supported by their senior government officials.

“The commissioning events of these projects were well documented and covered by both local and international media. There are also print and electronic copies of the commissioning ceremonies as further testimony to the judicious utilisation of the funds,” the statement added.