“Forex Allocation for Importation Will Only Impede Economic Growth” – CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria has advocated its recent exclusion of 41 items from funding on the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market, stating that such move would help to grow local industries.
The apex bank also maintained that no economy is run by allocating Forex for importation, saying that such a policy would only end up destroying young industries in any nation.
The CBN Director for Monetary Policy, Moses Tule, made these remarks at a Private Sector Dialogue on the new forex policy organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.
Tule stressed that continuing with the previous forex regime would deplete the nation’s forex reserves further since oil prices as well as government revenue had declined.
“The business of macro-economic management in any country, is the business of the fiscal authorities and the business of the monetary authorities. So, the two key agencies of macro-economic management must come together.
“The implication is that the central bank must do its own duty of the job and that arm of government responsible for fiscal policy, in this case, the Federal Ministry of Finance, must do its own part. No economy is run by foreign exchange,” Tule insisted.
He stated that prior to recent measures by the central bank, some manufacturers used to obtain forex from the CBN at official rate and send the fund abroad without the intension of importing goods.
