Nigeria stands the chance of attracting more Foreign exchange and reducing huge pressure on the local currency as its Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele has just been appointed Chairman of the Governing Board and Head of the General Assembly of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (the IILM)
The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) was established by central banks, monetary authorities and multilateral organisations to create and issue short-term Shari’ah-compliant financial instruments to facilitate effective cross-border Islamic liquidity management.
Established on 25 October 2010, the IILM warehouses cheap foreign exchange for members. Emefiele’s appointment was announced after a series of meetings of the IILM Board which ended Friday in Jakarta, Indonesia.
His new role allows him take charge of the activities of the group, comprising countries extremely rich in foreign exchange including Qatar, Kuwait, Unite Arab Emirates UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and Mauritius.
He takes over from H. Agus D.W. Martowardojo, head of Central Bank of Indonesia.
Experts say Nigeria stands to benefit from Emefiele’s chairmanship, particularly in terms of potentially more foreign exchange liquidity in pressured Nigerian market.
” You can see these countries are extremely rich countries as per foreign exchange and they work towards assisting members,” a CBN top official told BusinessDay immediately after the announcement.
“There is also the advantage of international clout too. As Chairman, you have new friends and loyalties.
“Even personal friendships with these people can help unlock funds when we need them,” he further explained.
By creating more liquid Shari’ah-compliant financial markets for institutions offering Islamic financial services (IIFS), the IILM aims to enhance cross-border investment flows, international linkages and financial stability.
Membership of the IILM is open to central banks, monetary authorities, financial regulatory authorities or government ministries or agencies that have regulatory oversight of finance or trade and commerce, and multilateral organisations.
“As Chairman, we can easily sway these things to us.”
“That can only be good for us: tourism, consumer spending, etc,” Tolu Adedeji, an Abuja based financial analyst said.
As seen on its website, the IILM seeks to facilitate cross-border liquidity management among institutions offering Islamic financial services by making available a variety of Shari’ah-compliant instruments, on commercial terms, to suit the varying liquidity needs of these institutions.
The IILM also seeks to foster regional and international co-operation to build a robust liquidity management infrastructure at national, regional and international levels.
The ten Governing Board members – the strategy and policy making body of the IILM are Bank Indonesia, Islamic Development Bank Group, Central Bank of Kuwait, Banque centrale du Luxembourg, Bank Negara Malaysia, Bank of Mauritius, Central Bank of Nigeria, Qatar Central Bank, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.
The IILM is hosted by Malaysia and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. As an international institution, the Corporation enjoys a range of privileges and immunities conferred by the IILM Act 2011 issued by Malaysia, it was learnt.
Next meeting of the board has been scheduled to hold in Abuja.
