Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has
called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to devalue the naira to reflect the
reality of the market.
Speaking at the midterm retreat
of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure, the vice-president said the
exchange rate is artificially low, and this is deterring investors from
bringing foreign exchange into the country.
“As for the exchange rate, I
think we need to move our rates to [be] as reflective of the market as
possible. This, in my own respective view, is the only way to improve supply,”
Osinbajo said.
“We can’t get new dollars into the system, where the exchange rate is artificially low. And everyone knows by how much our reserves can grow. I’m convinced that the demand management strategy currently being adopted by the CBN needs a rethink, and that is just my view.
“Anyway, all those are issues that when the
CBN governor has time to address, he will be able to address in full.”
The naira is changing for a
dollar at 411 at the official side of the market, while the same goes for 565
to the US currency at the parallel market.
CBN COMPETING WITH MINISTRIES?
Osinbajo suggested that the
central bank is competing with the fiscal side of the economy, which includes
the ministries, departments, and agencies of government.
“There must be synergy between the fiscal and
the monetary authority. We must be able to deal with the synergy, we must
handle the synergy between the monetary authority, the CBN, and the fiscal
side.
“Sometimes, it appears that there
is competition, especially on the fiscal side. If you look at some of the
interventions, you will find that those interventions are interventions that
should be managed by ministries.
“The ministry of industry, trade
and investment should handle MSMEs interventions, and we should know what the
CBN is doing. In other words, if the CBN is intervening in the MSME sector, it
should be with the full cooperation and consent of the ministry of industry.
“Sometimes you will get people
who are benefiting more than once because we simply have no line of sight on
what is going on, on one side.”
Speaking on surviving the
economic challenge of 2020, Osinbajo said Buhari deserves the credit for
providing steady leadership through the crisis.
“Let me say on the whole that we
have been able to weather the storm of a very very serious economic challenge.”
“I think that is largely on the
steady and stable leadership we received from the president. I think if Mr.
President had panicked in that period, we would have had a lot of difficulties,
perhaps we would be in a much worse situation.
“He deserves the commendation for
providing that steady hand when that was required.”
Osinbajo said we are at a point
in our economic history where anything is possible if the country is willing to
work together towards the same objective.
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