The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that there was no intention to further devalue the currency.
Addressing State House correspondents on Friday, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said the apex bank was rather concentrating on how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market.
Emefiele said the CBN was also concentrating on how to reduce the import of items that could be produced locally.
“There have been a lot of talks 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’re not considering any further depreciation of the currency. What we’re 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’re trying to encourage people to export and earn your export proceeds and use your export proceeds to to import whatever you need to import,” he said.
“We’re also concentrating on how to reduce the import of items that we can produce in the country today.
“So that is our focus. I’m saying and very soon, the CBN will be launching a campaign called PAVE, which means produce locally, add value and export your products and earn your foreign exchange for your imports. This is the only way we can support the efforts of CBN in intervening and providing foreign exchange in the market to meet the import needs of our people,” Emefiele stated.
