Connect with us

Breaking News

Nigeria’s Central Bank Devalues Naira, Raises Lending Rate

Published

on

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has announced a new official naira-to-dollar exchange rate, forcing down the Nigerian currency by 13 naira, as the country struggles to reshape its fiscal policies in response to dwindling oil price.

The bank devalued the naira at its monetary policy committee, MPC, meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, where it also reviewed Nigeria’s monetary policy rate from 12 per cent to 13 per cent. The monetary policy rate highlights lending rate for the country’s economy.
The naira will now exchange officially at N168 to a dollar, and no longer N155, the bank said.

“The committee decided that the Naira midpoint moved to 155 to 168 Naira,” said Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank Governor.

Emefiele added that “The bank remains committed to a stable exchange rate.”

“The current situation demands that bank confronts issue of declining reserves head on to stabilise currency,” stated Emefiele. But, at the same time, he decried Nigeria’s inability to “build sufficient foreign exchange reserves during boom days.”

According to the CBN Boss, the continued drop in global crude oil prices and reiterated the call on the government and the National Assembly to speed up the process towards the immediate passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which has been pending passage for the past two years.

The CBN said the decision to lower the value of naira against the dollar is to strengthen the currency.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *