|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Analysts and investors in the Nigerian Capital Market have expressed optimism that the market will rebound again following the newly adopted flexible foreign exchange (FX) policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is as the CBN assures to begin market-driven FX trading, abandoning its 16-month fixed exchange rate policy.
“I am very optimistic that various facets of the economy would start reacting to the pronouncement of the CBN governor. It has been long expected and that essentially is not good for the economy. But the key thing is that they have realised the fact that there is need for us to have a flexible policy of the FX situation because that has actually been the bane of the economy, especially the capital market,” Chidi Ajaegbu, managing director, Heritage Capital Markets Limited, said, during a courtesy visit to his office in Lagos by the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS).
According Ajaegbu, if there is a flexible rate, it will make forex more accessible, there would be transparency, possibly. When people are sure of their supply sources of the dollar, it will likely reduce the pressure on the naira, he said, and it could lead to strengthening of the naira over time.
Ajaegbu opined that even inflation had all but taken in the value of the naira in the prices of the commodities in everyday needs, which in most cases jumped up to 50-60 percent, describing this as a clear indication of the recognition of the true value of the naira.
Oluwaseyi Abe, president/chairman of Council, CIS, said, with the CBN governor’s pronouncements, things would start happening from now, and a lot of activities in the economy would pick up, saying “we know the economy will jerk back to life.”
Speaking on the purpose of the visit to Heritage Capital Market, the president said the visit was to look at what was happening in the economy, “everybody is waiting for some statements from certain quarters, specifically the CBN.
“And so, it’s part of our strategy to visit our members and rub minds with them and see how we can go forward. And as a professional institute, we have our own policy statement; we have to react to what the CBN has said.”
He also reiterated that Heritage Capital Market was a player in the economy; Ajaegbu being a prominent member of the institute and the chairman of the finance committee, the courtesy visit was not out of place at this crucial point in time.
