Don’t Panic Nigerians, Your Forex Obligations Will Be Met – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has come out to assure Nigerians that there is enough foreign exchange for them to meet their obligations.

Governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, recently gave the assurance at the end of yesterday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting, in Abuja.

According to him, the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 per cent and retained all other parameters by maintaining the Asymmetric Corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 27.5 per cent; and the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.

He added that if Nigerians have forex obligations, there is no need to panic, as they will definitely be met.

His words, “There is enough foreign exchange for people to meet their obligations . If you have forex obligations, they will be met. There is no need to panic or for everyone to rush to the bank at the same time and create an atmosphere of panic and give some people the opportunity to rip-off innocent people.”

“CBN disburses not less than $80 million to banks weekly. In fact we will create a help-desk where people can call the CBN directly to complain if you need forex to pay school fees or BTA and say, ‘I went to such and such a bank and was told there if no forex.”

“Nigeria has not changed it foreign exchange policy. CBN, as the organisation that has the core mandate to manage the foreign exchange, has continued to watch the market and intervenes in the market, depending on its readings of the market.”

“It might interest you to know that CBN has not intervened in the E&I (Export and Import) Window since January. The exchange rate has moved at a point to N409 /$1, N412/$1 and even N4013/$1. That is how it should be.”

“MPC reiterates its concerns about persons and groups causing security challenges in the food producing areas of the country as this has contributed to food prices across the land.”

“The committee therefore called for a coordinated and collaborated efforts by all relevant agencies and stakeholders towards addressing the security issues and challenges.”