Cardoso before the Joint Senate Committee
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso says the measures taken so far by the apex bank to stabilize foreign exchange rates have attracted $1bn into the Nigerian market in the past few days , assuring that more stability will come into the forex market.
He said that the measures would help to stabilise the foreign exchange rates and minimize the distortion that high exchange has had on inflation, which at the moment is spiraling.
Cardoso at a briefing of the Joint Senate Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance and Financial Institutions on Friday said: “We have already begun to see shifts in the positive direction. Indeed they (CBN measures) have already started yielding early results with significant interest from foreign portfolio investors which was a concern. That has already begun to supply the much-needed foreign exchange to the economy.
“For example, upward of the past few days, we have had over $1 billion that has come into the market, and this quite frankly has answered the question of if our policies are working.”
He said that our demands for foreign exchange, a reflection of our lifestyle, puts pressure on the naira.
While the CBN according to him is working hard to restore credibility to the central bank, he maintained that the genuine issue impacting the exchange rate is the demand for US dollars for business and personal needs.
The CBN Governor also assured that inflation is expected to decline this year using the inflation targeting framework and moderating to 21.1 percent.
The committee had on January 31 summoned the Central Bank Governor to appear before it following a continuous drop in the value of the naira and unprecedented volatility in exchange rate.
