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Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said at the weekend that the currency swap deal between Nigeria and China is still on course and will be concluded soon.
Emefiele gave the assurance at a joint press briefing with finance minister Kemi Adeosun on their participation at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Nigeria had initiated the two-fold currency swap deal since 2015 to help strengthen the naira since the country imports huge amounts of products of China.
“The agreement has not failed. You must agree with me that transactions of this nature would usually involve very strenuous engagements between the countries and the central banks.
“I can assure you my words that we are expecting excellent results very soon. I will leave at that for now and by the time the news comes out, Nigerians would be very happy,” Emefiele told reporters.
The CBN Governor also reiterated Nigeria’s positive growth outlook, noting that a growth of 2.5 per cent had been projected by the IMF and World Bank for Nigeria.
He disclosed that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to US$47.93 billion.
“There is need to save for the raining day and also continue to grow the foreign reserves. If we had enough reserves, we wouldn’t have suffered the recession shocks,” he explained.
He assured that concerted efforts were ongoing to realise the 80 per cent target for financial inclusion by 2020.
Adeosun also affirmed the country’s positive growth outlook would be sustained.
According to her, the present growth outlook contrasted with the outlook in 2015, stated that inflation rate was slowing down while the foreign reserves were rising.
Expressing optimistic on the Federal Government’s sustenance of the growth trajectory, the Minister however called for vigilance and focus for the country not to fall back into recession.
She said, “We are confident that if we diligently implement our economic plan, we will grow the economy. We have room to grow but other countries do not have rooms to grow.
“By 2019, the growth will be far more robust than the present level in 2018. We are therefore very optimistic in sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth. We are going to use this opportunity to grow our fiscal buffers, particularly aggressively growing our revenue base.
“The Administration has succeeded in building macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria, particularly revising the funding mix, rebuilding fiscal buffers, enhancing foreign exchange reserves and focusing on import substitution strategies.”
On the State-Owned-Enterprises such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, she disclosed that the Government would continue to efficiently and effectively manage their costs and plug leakages.
“We must make sure that every money that is earned comes in. We will drive the process of improving governance,” she added.
She reiterated that the federal government has earmarked the of US$322.5bn recovered Abacha loot to fund President Buhari’s social safety net programme.
The Minister confirmed the recovery of the monies from the Swiss Government and said it has been domiciled into a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“The objective of the National Social Safety Nets Project for Nigeria is to provide access to targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system,” Adeosun stated.
On the nation’s domestic debt, the Minister stated that the Government would not aggressively grow the debt.
“We are refinancing our inherited debt portfolio from short term Treasury Bills to longer tenured debt which has resulted in huge savings and reduction in costs of funds for the Government,” she said.
She disclosed that the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) deadline was extended by three months till June 30, 2018 due to the appeals from tax payers for more time to regularise their tax status.
She revealed that the present Administration has raised the tax payers’ base from 13 million in 2015 to 17 million as at 2018.
Onyinye Nwachukwu, Wshington DC
