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From FRED ITUA, Abuja
“We have started to see a downward trend even in prices and we have also observed that inflation is also trending downward. We are very much optimistic that by the end of the second quarter, we should be out of recession that we are in right now.
That was the revelation of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele Tuesday to the press at the Senate after his meeting with the Senate leadership.
That sounded like a contradiction of the position of the federal government last week the an international economic body announced that Nigeria had exited the economic doldrums already.
Emefiele told newsmen in Abuja that with the current foreign exchange policy of the apex bank, Nigeria will exit recession on or before the end of the third quarter of 2017.
He stated this after he briefed the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and other principal officers of the Red Chamber on how to resolve issues surrounding foreign exchange market in the country.
He had briefed the lawmakers in a private session, and later told newsmen after the meeting that the meeting was convened at the instance of the Senate.
The CBN CEO said the recent monetary policies of the CBN, have resulted in the low exchange rate currently in the foreign exchange market.
Emefiele said: “The Senate President invited us to brief the Senate and the leadership about providing some updates about the foreign exchange markets and you will all have observed that in the last two months, the Central Bank has been involved in some form of intensive intervention in the foreign exchange market and this has fortunately resulted in a downward trend in the parallel market price of foreign exchange from as higher as N525 to as low as N370. Right now it hovers between N370 to N380.
“It is an opportunity for me to say that we are going to continue this intervention because the reserve looks very good at above $31 billion. That provides us enough of firepower or ammunition to defend the currency and we will do so with all intensity to ensure that foreign exchange is procured by everybody.
“You want to import raw materials, you will get foreign exchange, you want to import plant and equipment you will get foreign exchange, you want to pay school fees or you are a small business that wants to buy foreign exchange for you to import your small items, you will procure foreign exchange.
“With the kind of firepower that we have, we are also going to play in the market to ensure that as the prices move on based on the managed float regime that we run, we should be able to control the prices based on willing buyer and willing seller basis.”
