CBN, China Expand Trade With CNY1.18bn
A total of CNY1.18bn had been auctioned in the market as of the end of June 2019 since the Central Bank of Nigeria signed a Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement with the People’s Bank of China in April 2018.
A total of CNY669.66m was auctioned in 2018, while CNY512.43m had been auctioned in the first half of 2019.
The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its half year report on the Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement between Nigeria and China.
Part of the report read, “During the review period, the bank continued with the implementation of the Bi-lateral Currency Swap Agreement with the People’s Bank of China through bi-weekly Renminbi auctions, which commenced in July, 2018.
“In the review period, 13 auctions were conducted and Renminbi worth CNY512.43m were sold from the drawdown of CNY1bn.
“A total of Renminbi worth CNY669.66m was sold through 12 auctions conducted from July to December 2018, from the same initial draw down of CNY1bn.”
The Federal Government had continued to grow its business relation while China had increased projects implemented in the country.
Nigeria had also continued to increase the loans that it had been taking from China.
The Consul General, Chu Maoming, recently disclosed that Nigeria and China recorded $8.6bn bilateral trade between January and June 2019.
He said, “Because of our joint efforts, the practical cooperation in all fields between our two countries has borne rich fruit. The bilateral trade reached $8.6bn from January to June 2019 with 20.7 per cent year-on-year growth.
“China now is still Nigeria’s largest sources of imports and second largest trading partner.
‘A large number of cooperative projects are vigorously promoted by both sides, such as the Zungeru Hydropower Plant, Mambilla Power Project, Lekki Deep Seaport, Lagos-Calabar coastal railway line, etc.”
He said he had seen Chinese enterprises and citizens work hard to realise their dreams and help to create jobs and train personnel, which might also help their Nigerian friends to realise their dreams.
Early in 2019, the Federal Executive Council approved another $1bn Chinese loan, to be sourced from the China-Exim Bank for the Gurara II Hydropower project.
