Buhari speaks to French journalists about Naira devaluation

Buhari speaks to French journalists about Naira devaluation – President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has expressed his disinterest in the devaluation of the Nigerian currency, the naira. 

Reuters reports with reference to an interview that the Nigerian president granted France 24 on Wednesday, that it would not bode well for the country to devalue the naira again.

He said: “I don’t think it is healthy for us to have the naira devalued further. That’s why we are getting the central bank to make modifications in terms of making foreign exchange available to essential services, industries, spare parts, essential raw materials and so on — but things like toothpicks and rice, Nigeria can produce enough of those.” This comment by president Buhari is coming after the country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria imposed sterner restrictions on access to foreign exchange in a bid to strengthen the naira, which had been on a downward slide since the slump in global crude prices last year. According to Bloomberg, The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s reaction to the drop of the naira to a record low in February, was an extension of trading curbs and an introduction of bans on purchases of dollars by certain importers. And although the naira has since stabilized, foreign investors, local businesses and even some of the CBN governor’s Monetary Policy Committee members have complained that it is still overvalued. As at 4:14pm on Wednesday, the naira remained at 199.05 per dollar on the interbank market.