Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Friday insisted that it has no plan to further devalue the naira.
He said what is uppermost on the bank’s agenda at the moment is how to enhance and deepen the foreign exchange market through improved supply of foreign exchange to the market.
Emefiele’s position is coming against the backdrop of calls by former CBN governor and currently Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II for the devaluatiin of the naira and loosening of monetary policy to stimulate the economy.
Speaking to journalists after attending a meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Emefiele noted that he had no plan to devalue the naira after it was devalued in February when the currency was depreciated from N155 to N197.
He said, “There has been a lot of talk on whether or not we want to depreciate our currency again. The truth is that we had adjusted the currency by depreciating it from N155 to N197 in February, this year.
“There is no intention to depreciate or adjust the currency any longer.
“The President has been very clear on this. The Vice President has been very clear on this and let me further reiterate our position at the Central Bank of Nigeria that we are not considering any further depreciation of the currency.
“What we are trying to concentrate on right now is how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market. And to do so, we are trying to encourage people to export and earn export proceeds and use them to import whatever they need to import.
“We are also concentrating on how to reduce the import of items that we can produce in the country today. So that is our focus.”
-Leadership
