The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Dr. Yemi Cardo has revealed that investors are now confident and excited about the Nigerian market following the certainty of Nigeria’s foreign exchange management.
He stated this during a media briefing in Washington DC on April 20th, 2024.
“April saw the naira emerge as the best-performing currency globally, supported by
bullish sentiment from leading international investment institutions. Our FX market is experiencing robust activities, with turnover reaching levels not seen in over seven years. This liquidity boost instills confidence among investors, businesses, and other partners, ensuring fluidity in their interactions with Nigeria’s FX markets” he revealed.
He said this naira relative stability was achieved through surmounting a myriad of challenges that he inherited.
“In the six months since assuming the position of Central Bank Governor, the challenges have been significant, from grappling with inflation to addressing volatility in the foreign exchange market. However, with relative stability now achieved, particularly in the FX market, we have transitioned from firefighting to strategic planning across key areas.”
“These areas include improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria, consolidating and sustaining the gains through an efficient and transparent market system and boosting financial and economic inclusion for small businesses and households– interrogating all potential ways to leverage smarter use of technology, and remote banking to reduce the cost of transactions and expand accessibility to the financial system” he explained.
He noted that despite the modest gains, hands are still on the mill to deliver more policies to unlock better economic gains.
“We remain vigilant, recognizing the challenges that persist, such as elevated inflation driven by rising food prices, transportation costs, and energy expenses. We note that inflation though rising is doing so at a decelerated rate and we are confident will soon commence a fall” he said.
“We still have work to do in solving all our problems, however, we do have a
determined pathway and a sequenced approach to tackling all challenges ahead,
working hand in hand with our key stakeholders including investors, banks, businesses – and, notably, our counterparts on the fiscal side.
We have recommitted our stance to orthodox monetary policy, and it is heartening to see the efforts being put up have started yielding results, especially in terms of
rebuilding trust and confidence in our economy and the leadership” he further stated.
He called on the FG to pay more than passing attention to insecurity and infrastructure deficiency.
“Security concerns in food-producing regions and infrastructure challenges also demand attention. The CBN has implemented several policy reforms to address some of these various pressures and, while I am confident enough today to talk about some of our early success, I am at the same time extremely mindful of our ongoing challenges” he said.
