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The Central Bank of Nigeria said today that it disbursed $2.83 billion for utilization by critical sectors of the economy between December 2016 and January 2017. The apex bank said the manufacturing, raw material, and agriculture sectors received the most FX disbursement given that they are employment-generating and wealth-creating sectors of the economy.

A breakdown of the FX disbursement shows that raw materials received $609 million and $228 million in December and January, respectively. The manufacturing sector received $53 million and $71 million, respectively, during the same period.   

The CBN said its FX utilization figures indicate that critical sectors – including manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum products and airlines – received $1.839 billion and $989 million in December and January, respectively.

In November last year, the CBN said it disbursed $1.07 billion for agricultural machinery, industrial raw materials, education, personal travel allowances materials, and spare-parts through the interbank foreign market.

The CBN has been facing strong criticism for its handling of the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Last week, Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, queried Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor, following reports of conflicting FX rates and racketeering in the allocation of foreign exchange by the apex bank. The CBN promptly denied the allegations, stating that the errors were from banks.

Nigeria’s FX reserves stood at $29 billion as of February 15th, according to the latest data from the CBN.