9th February, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso on Friday said if the Naira must stabilise, Nigerians must stop excess demand for dollars and foreign goods.
Cardoso spoke at an interface with the Senate Joint Committee on Banking and Insurance in Abuja on Friday.
Speaking on the state of the economy, the CBN governor also said inflationary pressures are expected to decline in 2024 to 21.4 per cent in the medium term, aided by improved agricultural productivity and easing global supply chain pressures.
He woos Nigerians to moderate their demand for foreign exchange to sustainable levels.
Cardoso said he is upbeat about the increased trade volume in the Nigerian foreign exchange market, reaching single-day trade levels of over $800 million.
“Every Nigerian has a responsibility to help curb our reliance on foreign products and services. Every contribution, no matter how small, counts,” Cardoso said.
“We’ve utilised various strategies to manage rate volatility and are confident that stability will return sooner rather than later,” he added.
Cardoso stated that the bank’s measures, aimed at stabilising the exchange rate, had already started yielding early results with significant interest from Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).
The News Agency of Nigeria quoted Cardoso as saying that “in terms of volatility of the exchange rate, we are using various tools to ensure stability of exchange rate sooner than later.
“I really can’t tell other than to say that I do believe that once all the measures kick in, there will be price discovery that will indeed make sense for everybody.
“We all have a responsibility in ensuring demand and supply. We are working on supply, but on the demand side, we all have to moderate our various interests on that.
“This is to ensure that demand begins to come to a level that is sustainable,” he said.