Aliko Dangote, the CEO of the Dangote Refinery, disclosed that his organization obtained loans totaling $2.7 billion from the Central Bank to finance the refinery from 2013 to 2023.
In a statement at his massive refinery in Lagos, Dangote disclosed this information.
He clarified that the refinery had little outside funding and was mostly financed by the company’s resources.
He claimed that the difficulties he faced in obtaining funding from foreign creditors were the reason he decided against project finance.
“On the loan that we got, part of the loan was taken by Dangote Industries, which is a local company. Dangote Industries received an allocation from the Central Bank, and the entire allocation that we received, including interest losses, was around $2.7 billion from 2013 to 2023.”
“We still owe the CBN about $200 million in forwards out of the $2.7 billion total. So, it’s a total of $2.5 billion in real cash received from the CBN, which was paid in interest and principal,” Dangote stated.
The CBN FX Account’s depletion is not the refinery’s fault.
The business tycoon went on to say that, despite what is often believed, his refinery was not the cause of CBN’s foreign exchange account depletion.
In addition to being minimally retrieved from the Apex Bank within ten years, Dangote stated that the cash will be reinvested in the nation through dividends and payments.
As a result, Dangote declared that the refinery would start making loan payments as soon as it started turning a profit.
“Dangote Industries returns the money they receive in dividends to the local market as quickly as possible. They are returning those funds to Nigeria”
“There is no money that we have taken from Nigeria. And we will return the one that we took. So it’s easier for people to understand.”
“It is better for people to recognise that we are returning what we took from CBN. People believe that the Dangote Group’s key projects consumed the majority of the Central Bank’s funds. We received $2.5 billion in cash from the Central Bank, and this money will be returned as soon as we begin to generate revenue. “Once we start making money, we’ll start paying back our loans,” Dangote added.
What to note
Nigeria’s oil regulatory agencies, especially the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), have recently clashed with the Dangote Refinery.
Dangote clarified how he funded his refinery while addressing the accusations made against him by the regulators.
In a previous statement, Dangote claimed that his business had returned $2.5 billion of the $5.5 billion it had received in loans from various banks to fund the refinery’s construction.
As of 2023, the former governor of the CBN claims that Dangote had returned 70% of the debt that he had taken out from the top bank.
