Atedo Peterside, the founder of Stanbic IBTC and the ANAP Foundation, claims that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s pressing desire for the naira to strengthen against the dollar and other foreign currencies is not the best strategy for doing so.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Peterside said trying to strengthen the currency quickly will not succeed.
He opined that the ideal course of action would be for the central bank to steadily increase the reserve while stabilising the value of the naira to a point where they could support it for a while.
Peterside said:
Additionally, Peterside suggested that the government quit its careless spending, which would make them appear irresponsible, and start acting appropriately to win over investors.
He claims that the government won’t accomplish anything concrete by following the pattern of doing five things correctly and two things incorrectly.
The economist stated that while Tinubu’s monetary policy is on the right track, the extreme fiscal irresponsibility that occasionally emanates from the top is on the wrong track.
After plunging to over 1,900 to the dollar, the naira gained strength and was recently named the world’s best-performing currency, trading at about 1,100.
Meanwhile, the naira recently dropped again to more than N1,500 to the dollar in the unofficial market.
Earlier, the exchange rate between the naira and dollar in the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) depreciated to N1,533.99 per dollar on Thursday, May 26, 2024, as per recent report.
TimesNow.com.ng previously reported that in the nine months from January to September 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s dollar supply for overseas medical and educational costs increased by 49.22% to $1.81 billion.
According to CBN data, Nigeria spent somewhat more on international education and health-related concerns abroad in 2023â$1.81 billion compared to $1.76 billion spent at the same time in 2022.
The amount allocated for these two charges was insignificant compared to the $2.49 billion available during the same period in 2021.
Proofreading by James Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at TimesNow.com.ng.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
