Business
Just in: Old Notes: No Extension, January 31st Deadline Stands- Emefiele Insists
…..increases benchmark interest rate to 17.5%
The Central Bank Of Nigeria, CBN, Governor Godwin Emefiele has reaffirmed that the January 31st deadline for the old Naira Notes stands, as there will be no extension.
The CBN’s MPC also voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR
The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Tuesday raised its benchmark lending rate to 17.5 per cent to sustain the current policy to further rein in inflation.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced this Tuesday at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting that began Monday.
Addressing journalists at the end of the 2-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, Mr Emefiele said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent as well as the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.
It will be recalled, the CBN on October 26, 2022 had announced its plan to redesign the three banknotes. President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes on November 23, 2022, while the apex bank fixed January 31 deadline for the validity of the old notes.
There have been concerns from many Nigerians over the slow spread of the three new naira notes as the January 31 2023 deadline approaches but the apex bank has insisted that the date stands.
The CBN also recently directed commercial banks to halt over-the-counter payment of the new notes and load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with the redesigned naira notes to boost circulation.
The apex bank also launched a cash swap programme nationwide to enable those in the unbanked areas to exchange their old notes for new notes before the deadline.
Business
FG Seeks Higher Investments, Increased Trade From G-24
Joel Ajayi
The Federal Government has said that it needs investment and increased trading relationships from member countries of the G-24 as these will play a
critical role in the country’s quest for growth as well as
ensure a stable and growing economy by bringing tranquility to the tempestuous foreign exchange market.
The Honourable Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, made the request at the ongoing World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings holding in Washington DC.
Represented by the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, the Minister informed the G-24, a group of countries working together to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and financial issues and indeed the global gathering that Nigerian Government, on its part, has administered a cocktail of intervention programmes and potent policies which are already yielding desired outcomes.
He explained that
the efforts of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration towards repositioning the economy
were already yielding desired outcomes, which has significantly narrowed the gap between the exchanges at the parallel market and the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market.
Edun said that Nigeria was well positioned to attract investments in various sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, oil and gas, amongst others.
While responding to a question from a Russian journalist on areas of cooperation between the two countries, the Minister said that the last major investment of the Eastern European nation in Nigeria was the Ajaokuta Steel Company, which currently lies prostate over large sprawling greenfield.
He informed further that apart from Brazil, there is no country in the world with as much arable land as Nigeria, as such, the country should be a net exporter of food and not an importer.
Edun also justified the decision for the Dangote Refinery to work on meeting local demands of petroleum products before eyeing export markets.
Does it make a meaning that domestic demand is not yet met and a company refines products and exports, while Nigeria goes and imports the same products from Europe? he queried.
The Minister added that local refining would be encouraged until indigenous demand has been fully met, and then the nation can export products as well as earn foreign exchange from such exports.
On budget implementation, he said that the capital component of the 2023 supplementary budget was still being implemented and would run until June due to government’s determination to make impacts in various sectors.
The Minister added that the 2024 budget was being implemented as planned, assuring that the citizens would be better for it.
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