Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is in the process of finalising the creation of a N500 billion fund with the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) to assist local manufacturers interested in non-oil exports.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of CBN, disclosed this on Monday at the ongoing seminar for finance correspondents and business editors in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
This is part of the regulator’s efforts towards providing access to the much-needed credit to sectors with the potential to create jobs on a large scale.
Nigeria has recorded persistent increase in unemployment rate to 16.2 percent in the second quarter of 2017, from 8.2 percent at the same period of 2015.
Emefiele, represented by Edward Lametek Adamu, deputy governor, corporate services, said Nigeria’s external reserves would increase to $50 billion later this year.
External reserves currently stand at $47.3 billion as of April 5, 2018, from a low of $23 billion in October 2016.
Foreign exchange supply has improved since the establishment of the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window, with autonomous inflows of over $20 billion through this window alone from April 2017 to date.
Exchange rate has appreciated significantly from over N525/$1 in February 2017, to about N360/$1 today, tapering premium across various windows and segments of the market.
Inflation rate has declined from a peak of 18.7 percent in January 2017 to 14.3 percent currently.
“As the sentiments improve in the macro economy and supported by proactive monetary, trade, industrial and fiscal policies, we expect a continued uptick in GDP growth with a positive spill over to improved unemployment rate,” he said.
He noted that GDP recovered after five quarters of continuous contraction, recording positive growths of 0.7 and 1.4 percent in quarters two and three of 2017, respectively, and signalling an exit from recession.
“We expect a re-doubling of strong policy coordination, collaboration and cooperation which flourished during the very difficult times. To sustain our recovery, the need is greater now than ever for a robust policy coordination between the key aspects of economic policymaking space,” he said.
This, he said, would include fiscal, monetary, exchange, and trade policies, which must be targeted at protecting farmers to boost agricultural outputs, support local companies and enhance manufacturing and industrial capacities, with a view to diversifying the economy away from oil and fossil fuels.
In his address, Okafor Nwokoro, branch controller, CBN, Uyo, said the naira that had exchanged for as high as N540 per dollar a year ago and had since stabilised at N360 per dollar in a record time “proving wrong the notion that in Nigeria prices are strictly downwards and when prices go up they don’t come down.”
