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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 27 Jan 1988

Vol. 377 No. 1

Written Answers. - Export Credit Insurance Claim.

33.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the present position regarding his efforts to recover money from a Nigerian company under export credit arrangements which were referred to in his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 17 of 7 April, 1987.

The Deputy is referring to the non-payment of debts due to an Irish company in respect of a contract with a Nigerian buyer for the supply of fish which gave rise to claims under the export credit insurance scheme. The total amount of debts involved is US$3.7 million. The non-payment of the debts has been largely due to the acute shortage of foreign exchange in Nigeria over the past few years.

Since the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 17 of 7 April 1987, continuing efforts have been made by my Department, the Irish exporter and the Irish Embassy in Lagos to have the debts cleared by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Once cleared, promissory notes will be issued by the Bank which would allow for repayment of the debts over a period of time under a Nigerian debt rescheduling programme. All other countries with trade debts in Nigeria are engaged in the same process. The efforts to speed up the process included a visit to Lagos by officials of my Department in July 1987 and a further visit by an official of my Department, accompanied by the Irish exporter, in December, 1987. These visits involved detailed meetings with the Nigerian Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the Nigerian buyer and local banks, and as a result the prospects of a recovery have been enhanced. Specifically, papers relating to debts of US$864,000 have been matched and we are hopeful of obtaining promissory notes for this amount in the near future. The prospects of matching papers relating to an amount of US$731,000 have improved and the Nigerian buyer is willing to discuss arrangements for the payment of any outstanding unmatched amounts. My Department is in almost weekly contact with the Irish Embassy in Lagos.

I can assure the Deputy that my Department and the Irish Embassy in Lagos will continue to exert pressure on the appropriate authorities in Nigeria until a recovery has been made.

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