The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, has decried the effect of the forex scarcity on the nation’s economy.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves dropped from $39.219bn to $38.882 billion on August 16.
The CBN pegged the country’s external reserves at $44.42 billion in March.
Emefiele, who spoke at the Bankers’ Committee Retreat in Lagos, said the shortage of foreign currency was a burden on the country’s developmental plans.
He also expressed concern at the country’s inflation rate which rose from 20.77 percent in September to 21.09 percent in October.
He said: “The number of student visas issued to Nigerians by the United Kingdom alone has increased from an annual average of about 8,000 visas as of 2020 to nearly 66,000 in 2022, which implies an eight-fold surge to about $2.5 billion annually in study-related foreign exchange outflow to the UK alone.”
Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, had earlier said that projected that spending on political campaigns ahead of the 2023 general elections would put more pressure on foreign exchange supply in the Nigerian.
Already, frustrated manufacturers and travelers have been forced to patronise BDC operators more often than before.
It was learnt that in some instances, banks were able to meet just about 30 percent of customers’ demands.
“I applied for a $5,000 Business Travel Allowance through the CBN portal. But my bank said it could give me only $2,000,” said a businessman who wished to remain anonymous.
“Never in a million years would I have thought Nigeria would get to this stage. How do you explain that a manufacturer had an invoice of $425,000 to import materials and all that is allocated to him from the CBN is $210? I can’t even wrap my brain around it,” said Bola Adefila, the Chief Operating Officer, Banrut Rolls Nig Ltd,” he said.
The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, in a chat said manufacturers now rely on the parallel market for their foreign exchange.
“The scarcity of forex is also unfortunate because it affects the manufacturing sector more than others. The manufacturing sector has a multiplier effect on the economy and this sector ought to receive priority. Our members are given ridiculously low amounts in the face of huge demands.
The exchange rate between the naira and the United States dollar is N440/$1 on the official market and N735/$1 on the black market.
 Godwin Emefiele, has decried the effect of the forex scarcity on the nation’s economy.){kind=link}