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Nigerian govt warns currency speculators amid FX troubles

Published

1 year ago

November 8, 2023

The Nigerian government claims it is working on policies that will strengthen the Naira amid devaluation of the currency.

Special Adviser to the President Tinubu on Economic Matters, Dr Tope Fasua claimed that there had been a steady rise in the value of the naira in the past few days, noting that the trend was not expected to continue as a result of policies being implemented by the government.

Fasua stressed that the rise in the value of the currency of a country was a sign of victory. He said: “When you want to destroy a country, destroy its currency first.”

He also cautioned currency speculators, stating that the policies being rolled out by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the government led by the President would shock some of them as the Naira was bound to improve in value.

“For those who are speculating and praying and wishing that the currency would become nonsense, I believe

“You need to listen to the agenda from the man himself (Tinubu) and you will see that the level at which he is thinking is far ahead of most of us.

“You know, he has some very great ideas coming up. Some of them are what you’ve seen reversing the fall in the value of the naira, but he has also challenged us to review forward many of the targets, for example, the idea that Nigeria’s economy will get to a trillion dollars. He wants to achieve it by 2026.

“Some people thought the naira will continue to lose value. Of course, we can already see what’s going on and who knows, maybe the naira will strengthen even further to maybe something 500 or 600. I’m beginning to see some of those”, he said.

Since the official Investors and Exporters window of the foreign exchange market opened in June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria instructed Deposit Money Banks to eliminate the rate cap on the naira and permit the currency to freely float against the dollar and other major world currencies.

The naira has since officially declined from N473.83 to about 800, and as high as N1,300 at the black market as a result of the growing gap between the parallel and official exchange rates of the naira. The rates have continued to experience volatility.

Related Topics:Featured Foreign exchange Nigeria

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Food prices drive second straight monthly hike in Nigeria’s inflation

Published

5 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to official statistics released on Friday, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased for the second consecutive month in October, rising to 33.88% in annual terms from 32.70% in September, mostly as a result of increasing food costs.

In an attempt to boost economic development and strengthen public finances, President Bola Tinubu devalued the naira and reduced subsidies, which caused inflation to spike in the second half of last year.

As the effects of the naira devaluation started to lessen in July of this year, a slew of hikes in the price of petroleum and devastating floods that destroyed crops once again exacerbated pricing pressures, making the greatest cost-of-living crisis in decades worse in Africa’s most populous country.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, price increases for basics such as rice, maize, bread, potatoes, and cooking oil prompted food inflation to surge from 37.77% in October to 39.16% year over year.

This year, more than 1.5 million hectares of agriculture have been damaged by torrential rain and floods in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, leaving millions hungry and displacing large numbers of people.

In an effort to curb inflation, the central bank has raised interest rates five times this year. On November 26, it is expected to make its final rate decision of the year.

VenturesNow

MTN financial report reveals drop in group service revenue

Published

5 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Due to operational difficulties in Sudan and the depreciation of the Nigerian naira, MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom provider, announced on Thursday an 18.5% decline in service revenue for the third quarter that concluded on September 30.

With 288 million users in 17 African regions, MTN said that its group service revenue dropped from 156.3 billion rand ($6.99 billion) in the same quarter of the previous year to 127.4 billion rand.

Despite stating that “the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters,” the business reported a 48.7% decline in MTN Nigeria’s income due to the currency’s depreciation.

Due to a stronger Ugandan shilling than the previous year, Uganda’s largest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA), expanded by a meagre 3.3%.

Due to “subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where the conflict has displaced millions of people,” the business reported that its subscriber base increased by 1.6% to 288 million.

Given the higher demand in Nigeria despite the legal obstacles, MTN plans to increase its capital expenditures, which it expects would total between 28 and 33 billion rand for the entire year.