With an escalating demand for foreign exchange for both goods and services by Nigerians, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured that it would continue to make deliberate efforts in the foreign exchange sector to avert a further downward slide in the value of the naira, which it said was fuelled by speculative tendencies.
The CBNs Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, yesterday, advised the public to resist the urge of succumbing to the speculative activities of some players in the foreign exchange market.
Reiterating an earlier position of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, he urged Nigerians to play their role by adjusting their consumption patterns, looking inwards, and finding innovative solutions to the countrys challenges.
He submitted that monetary policy alone could not bear all the burden of the expected adjustments needed to manage the challenges around Nigerias foreign exchange and admonished: Its our collective duty as Nigerians to shore up the value of the Naira. According to him, the CBN remained committed to resolving the foreign exchange issues confronting the nation and as such has been working to manage both the demand and supply side challenges.
The spokesman said that recent initiatives undertaken by the CBN Bank such as the RT200 FX Programme and the Naira4Dollar rebate scheme had helped to increase foreign exchange inflow to the country.
Similarly, the apex bank’s spokesman disclosed that the Naira4Dollar incentive also increased the volume of Diaspora remittances during the first half of the year, while admitting that there was huge demand pressure for foreign exchange to meet the needs of manufacturers, as well as those for the payment of tuition, medical fees and other Invisibles.
Nwanisobi said the apex bank was concerned about the international value of the naira, adding that the monetary authority was strategising to help Nigeria earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange in the face of dwindling inflows from the oil sector.
