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Nigerian govt warns currency speculators amid FX troubles

Published

6 months 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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Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high of 33.69% in April

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s consumer inflation reached a 28-year high of 33.69% in April, up from 33.20% in March, according to statistics agency figures released on Wednesday.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has slashed petrol and energy subsidies and devalued the local naira currency twice.

To manage pricing pressures, the central bank has hiked interest rates twice this year, including the highest hike in almost 17 years. The central bank governor has stated that rates will remain high for as long as necessary to reduce inflation. The bank will host another rate-setting meeting next week.

When compared to the previous year, the inflation rate in April 2024 was 11.47 percentage points more than in April 2023, when it stood at 22.22 percent. This implies that the headline inflation rate has increased dramatically during the last year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food and nonalcoholic beverages remained the largest contributor to inflation in April. Food inflation, which accounts for most of the inflation basket, rose to 40.53% yearly from 40.01% in March.

Price pressures have left millions of Nigerians facing the biggest cost-of-living crisis in decades, as they fight to satisfy their most basic necessities.

Tinubu has offered a 35% salary increase for state personnel to alleviate pressure on government workers. To assist disadvantaged households, his government has resumed a direct cash transfer program and provided at least 42,000 tons of grains such as corn and millet.

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Uganda discusses power line to South Sudan with China’s Sinohydro

Published

2 days ago

May 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the president’s office, Uganda is in negotiations with Sinohydro Corporation Limited of China to build a $180 million power transmission line that would enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, which is severely short on energy.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni received a group led by Vice President of Sinohydro Corporation Yang Yi Xin on Monday as part of the negotiations, according to a late-morning statement from Museveni’s office.

The project, according to the statement, will entail building a new substation and expanding two existing ones in addition to building a 138-kilometre high-voltage transmission line to provide power to South Sudan.

“We are very much willing to help develop this project with the required finance if needed,” Xin was quoted as telling the president.

The statement stated that Museveni endorsed Sinohydro’s proposal to carry out the project. Uganda and South Sudan inked a power sales deal in June of last year, enabling Uganda to sell electricity to South Sudan.

To enable Uganda to export electricity to South Sudan, the two nations inked a power sales deal in June of last year. The Chinese firm is completing a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt hydropower project on the River Nile in Northern Uganda that is meant to be the source for electricity exports to South Sudan.