The United States said on Monday it will press Nigeria in talks this week to adopt a more flexible foreign exchange rate to boost growth and investment in Africa’s largest economy.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told an audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace that Nigeria should ensure the value of the naira currency versus the U.S. dollar was “more realistic.”
“While most people complain about the possibility of there being a devaluation, people are already operating on a devalued currency, and the only people who are not, are people who are doing it officially,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“Our recommendation is, and we will have discussions about it … that they should look at the exchange rate and try to make the exchange rate more realistic to what the value of the naira is to the dollar,” she added.
She spoke ahead of talks in Washington on Thursday involving officials from the State Department, Pentagon and Treasury and their counterparts in the Nigerian government.
Nigeria faces its worst economic crisis in decades as the falling price of oil has slashed revenues, prompting the central bank to peg the currency and introduce curbs to protect foreign exchange reserves, which have fallen to an 11-year low.
Some members of Nigeria’s central bank monetary policy committee have said the naira should be devalued. However, President Muhammadu Buhari has said devaluation will not bring any benefit whatsoever to the Nigerian economy.
According to online reports, Nigerian cleric T.B. Joshua had warned Buhari in his ‘prophecy’ for 2016 of the impending pressure ahead of him to devalue the Nigerian currency, despite his insistence against adopting such a measure.
“The president will do everything to reject revaluation of the naira - which is a good idea from a good leader,” the controversial pastor said in his widely circulated list of ‘predictions’ released on December 31st 2015.
“But there will be overwhelming pressure which he will not be able to resist,” he concluded, calling on Nigerians to pray for their leader in lieu of a bleak future.
Thomas-Greenfield said the parallel currency market in Nigeria was “alive and well,” warning that a rigid exchange rate, capital controls and import bans could undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to expand economic growth and fight corruption.
“Capital controls that limit access to foreign exchange rewards insiders and undermines the stated goals of Nigeria to increase domestic production because both Nigerian and expat investors alike tell us many businesses are unable to obtain the capital to purchase badly needed intermediate goods,” she said.
The naira trades some 40 percent below the official rate on the black market versus the dollar. The central bank last year pegged the exchange rate to curb speculative demand for the dollar and conserve foreign exchange reserves after it restricted access to hard currency for imports of certain items, frustrating businesses.
The International Monetary Fund last month called on Nigeria to lift the curbs and let the naira reflect market forces more closely, as the restrictions have significantly affected the private sector. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Please dem,what does PMB knows about economy?nothing,we are already living in devalued currency and all d restriction has caused d dollar to be at d present exchange,PMB policies are not working.
ReplyDeleteMy own questions is why cant they scrap the parallel market. Why should the black market exist in the first place causing all this exchange rate wahala. I don't knw if someone can enlightened me why the parallel market should remain
ReplyDelete