Forex stability excites Buhari, says Emefiele

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari was excited at the current stability being witnessed in the foreign exchange market.

Emefiele told State House correspondents that Buhari was delighted to learn about the stability when he (the CBN governor) briefed the President on the activities of the apex bank in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He told the reporters that the parallel market was currently stabilising at between N380 and N385 to the United States dollar.

Emefiele stated, “Basically as it is expected, what we normally do is from time to time to brief the President about activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria, particularly at this time as it relates to the efforts that the central bank is making to stabilise the forex market.

“We briefed him regarding the activities so far and he was very delighted to hear that the market is stabilising at the level that it is right now, and I am saying the parallel market currently stabilises at between N380 and N385.”

He attributed the stability in the forex market to the increase in oil production, which according to him, also led to increase in the export of the commodities.

Emefiele also said crude oil prices that had been hovering between $50 and $56 per barrel had helped to boost the nation’s revenue.

The governor stated that the rising oil price and government revenue had also helped the apex bank to defend the naira.

“Given what we have right now, the fact that the revenues are looking good, the state of the economy is good and I believe that we are going to pull out of the problem of recession in due course,” he assured Nigerians.

He also promised that the bank would continue to make foreign exchange available to those in need to enable them to import eligible goods and carry out legitimate transactions.