Kunle Aderinokun and Obinna Chima in Washington DC
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has
said measures taken so far to stimulate growth in the country have put
the economy on the right track. The Acting Director, Corporate
Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said this during an interview
with journalists on the side lines of the IMF -World Bank meetings in
Washington DC.
Okoroafor recalled that about a year
ago, when the country’s delegation attended same meetings in Washington,
the story was different, as almost all economic indicators were
negative. He pointed out that since the second half of last year, the
story had changed, with measures such as the Investors’ and Exporters’
(I&E) window, aggressive development finance intervention, among
others.
“If you recall, then, the Nigerian
economy was going through one of its worst moments,” Okoroafor stated.
“Inflation was high, the foreign exchange market was in turmoil and the
economy was in recession. Also, we faced a crunchy foreign exchange
scarcity, and everybody swooped on Nigeria. Our reserves were down and
the whole situation was ominous. I can recall that at that time, we said
we knew what we were doing and everybody was saying we were wrong. But
we waited for time to play out.”
Okoroafor added, “Today, I am happy to
report that time has proved that we were right, and they (the IMF and
World Bank) were wrong about our economy. We have our reserves strong,
over $47 billion, inflation has gone down to 13.34 per cent, foreign
exchange market is now very stable, and growth has taken off -we are out
of recession.
“It’s all positive news. We needed to
underscore this top, say that, yes, we were right, we knew our economy
and we have done what was then wrong which we believed is the right
thing and we are happy to report that everything we have done proved to
be right and we will continue to do that.”
The central bank spokesman assured that
the bank would fund the real sector more vigorously, saying the issue of
productivity is very important.
He explained, “We have launched the
Agri-business, Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS),
which will support production by small and medium enterprises. We have
launched the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme, which will
further boost employment, especially youth employment.
“We know we are on the right track, we
will continue to build up reserves. We have maintained stability in the
foreign exchange market for the past nine months. Industrial production
has improved because we have steadily supplied the manufacturing sector
with foreign exchange for their raw materials and machinery.
So, we are happy that this year, not a
negative mention has been said about Nigeria. It is left for them to
admit that we were right and they were wrong.”
Furthermore, Okoroafor noted that the
CBN had achieved a considerable level of exchange rate stability,
pointing out that since its introduction, the I & E window has
continued to attract foreign exchange inflows.
“We have achieved stability in a
significant way and we are working towards a time when all the sectors
of the market converge at one point. As time goes on, we will see it
play out as we promised last year,” he said.
Responding to a question on why the
central bank has left interest rate high, he said: “Like the CBN
Governor said, it is the opinion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
that will determine where the rates will be.
“We will look at the needs of the
economy and continue to see how the rates will be adjusted. Members of
the MPC will look at the sectors of the economy and adjustments will be
done accordingly.”
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