We’ve been deceiving ourselves – Nigerian govt speaks on forex crisis

The Federal Government has acknowledged that its response to the foreign exchange issue could have been better.

During the weekend, Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, revealed this to reporters in Lagos.

He asserts that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s policy changes will enhance the exchange rate.

He expressed optimism that Nigeria’s foreign currency market would perform better by pointing out that nations that have liberalised their foreign exchange markets, like Nigeria, have benefited from better exchange rates.

Bagudu advised local and foreign investors to move this way, stating that global indexes indicated that conditions would improve.

He said, “Mr. President has signed two Executive Orders. We have been deceiving ourselves; we have run a system without dollars or foreign exchange. So even if you desire to enjoy repatriation, you don’t have to because you have boxed yourself into a corner. It has to be a willing-buyer, willing-seller market.

“There are things you can’t control. If somebody makes legislation and says that every bag of yams will cost N100, the people who hold the yams will just take them quickly back to the store and lock them. So, the steps taken by Mr President and the central bank may be inconvenient now in terms of the fluctuation, but we believe it will stabilise and get better. Countries that have chosen that route have improved on average in the long run”, he said.

Recall when the Nigerian Central Bank floated the Naira on June 14, 2023. The nation’s foreign exchange market has fluctuated ever since.

As of Friday, the official foreign currency rate for the Naira was N890.54 per dollar, up from N460.702 per dollar in May 2023.

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