The organised private sector has said that the new unorthodox foreign exchange allocations system, put in place by the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria, would continue to hamper economic growth in the country.
The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Muda Yusuf, explained that it was worrisome that the CBN had maintained deafening silence on major foreign exchange-related issues adversely impacting the economy.
To him, these issues had continued to cause distortions and liquidity challenges in the economy. He noted that some of the issues include acute liquidity crisis in the foreign exchange market, impediments to autonomous inflows of foreign exchange and regulations impeding the movement of funds from one domiciliary account to another.
According to him, other hurdles are adverse effect on remittances by airlines, foreign investors’ dividends and profits; adverse effect on Diaspora remittances and contentious issue of the 41 items excluded from access to the official foreign exchange window.
“Liquidity squeeze in the economy is not abating, but driven by the contractionary monetary policy, aggressive drive for tax revenue by all levels of government and the current import duty regime.
The economy at this time needs injection of liquidity in order to rebound. The budget appropriations are not enough to make the desired impact. Boosting private investment is, therefore, very vital,” Yusuf said.
Also, the President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank Jacobs, lamented the worsening state of the Nigerian economy. “The economy is also challenged with the lack of access to foreign exchange by the real sector.
We are aware of, and commend the government on the various steps taken to resolve this issue, including the standing directive by the CBN to banks to channel minimum 60 per cent of available forex to manufacturers,” he said.
The OPS comprises of MAN, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industries
