“As our private and
publicly owned refineries resume operations between now and the first quarter
of 2025, the nation’s cash position will dramatically improve to the extent
that Nigerians can rightly expect a stronger Naira and a fair reflection of its
strength in the prices of commodities in the marketplace.”
He, however, said there is still significant work ahead,
stating that consumer-protecting regulatory agencies need to intensify
enforcement to ensure the prices of goods and services reflect the prevailing
exchange rates.
“There is still much work to be done and this is not a time
for celebration. It is a time for doubling down and working harder to ensure
that inflation is sustainably brought down in short order and that consumer
protecting regulatory agencies step up enforcement to ensure that our people
are not short-changed by enterprises that fail to reflect the prevailing
exchange rates on the pricing of goods and services across the board,” he said.
Ngelale said Nigerians will be satisfied with the president’s
performance by the end of his first term in office, even as the signs are
increasingly “more evident” today.
NAIRA ON A REBOUND
The naira has been on a rebound with the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) intervening in the parallel market to control the foreign
exchange rate movement.
On February 27, CBN sold $20,000 to each BDC at the rate of
N1,301/$.
The day before, the naira closed at N1,650/$ at the parallel
section of the FX market and at N1,582.94/$ in the official window.
However, on March 25, the apex bank allocated dollars to
BDCs at the rate of N1,251/$, and on April 8, CBN cut the rate further to
N1,101/$1 when it sold $10,000 to each BDC.
Following the interventions, the naira has been on a
resurgence in the parallel and official markets.
As of April 8, the naira closed at N1,120 per dollar at the
parallel section and at N1,230.61/$ in the official window.
Meanwhile, the CBN had also implemented several policies in
a bid to support naira recovery and boost foreign reserves.
On February 13, CBN directed banks to start paying dollar
transactions through international money transfer operators (IMTOs) in naira.
CBN, on April 8, also directed banks to stop the use of
foreign currency-denominated collaterals for naira loans.
