TheNewsGuru

Tag: emefiele

  • Why we can’t hold MPC meeting today – Emefiele

    …insists that economy remains buoyant

    Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on Sunday explained why the quarterly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting scheduled to hold today (Monday) and Tomorrow (Tuesday) won’t hold.

    According to Emefiele, the meeting can’t hold due to the non-confirmation of the MPC nominees by the Senate.

    With the expiration of the tenure of some members, the MPC cannot form a quorum.

    In a personally signed statement, Emefiele explained that the MPC meeting won’t hold as a result of lack of quorum as stipulated in the CBN Act 2007.

    Emefiele said the CBN would continue to maintain the key monetary variables as decided in the last MPC meeting of November 2017, which was to hold Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 14 per cent, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.5 per cent, liquidity ratio at 30 per cent and the asymmetric corridor at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

    He cited the recovery in oil prices and boost in domestic production, Nigeria’s exit from recession in 2017, decline in inflation rate to 15.37 per cent, and accretion to the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which now stands at $40.78 billion, as positive indicators, stressing that these underscored the fact that the Nigerian economy remained strong.

    He noted that strong investor confidence in Nigeria had attracted inflows of about $13 billion through the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window, opened by the CBN in 2017. According to him, these inflows have boosted foreign exchange supply and helped to stabilise the exchange rate.

    “We have also seen market capitalization of our Stock Exchange improve by 22.3 per cent from N13.21 trillion on November 30, 2017 to N16.15 trillion as at 19 January 2018, while the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 18.8 per cent from 37,944.60 to 45,092.83 over the same period,” he added.

    Emefiele assured that a revised schedule of the Meetings for the MPC would be communicated as soon as the Bank meets the statutory requirements of membership and quorum for the MPC.

    He also assured that the CBN Management would continue to sustain the gains recorded in the economy and as its vigilance and proactivity to ensure overall macro-economic stability throughout 2018.

    Last October, President, Muhammadu Buhari nominated Mrs. Aisha Ahmad as CBN Deputy Governor. He also sought the confirmation of Adeola Festus Adenikinju, Aliyu Rafindadi Sanusi, Robert Chikwendu Asogwa, and Asheikh Maidugu as members of the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee.

    Up till now, they have not been confirmed by the senate.

    The Second Schedule of the CBN Act (Section 12(5) and 54, stipulates that the MPC shall meet at least four times in a year and the quorum shall be six members, two of who shall be the Governor and a Deputy Governor or two Deputy Governors.

     

  • Inflation drops by 15 per cent in 11 months – Emefiele

    Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele on Thursday confirmed that inflation rate declined by about 15 per cent over the past 11 months as fiscal and monetary reforms continue to impact positively on the Nigerian economy.

    Emefiele revealed this while delivering the 47th Convocation Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) entitled “A Mindset for Succeeding in Today’s Nigeria.”

    He pointed out that inflation had declined from a peak of 18.7 per cent in January 2017 to 15.9 per cent in November.

    The apex bank chief lauded the improvements in the macro economy noting that the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) recovered after five quarters of continuous contraction, recording positive growth of 0.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively in second and third quarters of 2017.

    He added that the exchange rate has appreciated significantly from N525/$1 in February 2017 to about N360/$1 now, tapering premium across various windows and segments of the market.

    “Foreign exchange supply has improved since the establishment of the Investors & Exporters Window, with autonomous inflows of over $10 billion through this window alone from April 2017 to date. Foreign Exchange Reserve has recovered significantly from a low of just over $23 billion in October 2016 to about $35.2 billion by November 27, 2017,” Emefiele said.

    He pointed out that the World Bank’s “Doing Business Indicators” for 2018 indicated improvement in Nigerian macro economy as Nigeria rose by 24 places to rank 145 out of 190 countries.

    According to him, there has been a significant boost in local production, which is due to CBN’s development finance efforts and the dogged implementation of its foreign exchange policies.

    “Today many local manufacturers are reporting major boosts to their revenue and profit,” Emefiele said.

    Emefiele said that the growing Nigerian population presents additional opportunities for economic empowerment for Nigerians.

    He noted that Nigeria is now estimated to have a population of over 180 million people and this population is predicted by the United Nations to grow to 398 million people in 2050, which would make Nigeria, the third largest in the world by that time.

    According to him, the population trend presents a significant opportunity for Nigerian graduates to turn whatever challenge they may be facing into opportunities that can harness these demographic shifts.

    “Imagine what would happen if Nigeria and Nigerians cannot provide food, shelter, clothing, health, education, and other basic things for this teeming population. Even though these trends should already begin to bother current leaders in our country today, I believe that young Nigerians can begin today to see these trends as opportunities and think of what they can do take advantage of the situation,” Emefiele said.

     

  • Emefiele wins Forbes’ 2017 ‘Best of Africa Achievement’ Award

    Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday won the 2017 edition of Forbes’ ‘Best of Africa Achievement Award’

    The Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Council on Africa, Florizelle Liser, said the CBN chief merited the honour because the body is happy to see the work that is being done on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria and “we believe they are going to pay off,” adding, “many of our members welcome it as an opportunity to see how they can trade more with Nigeria and invest more in Nigeria.

    “So, we thank you (Emefiele) for your efforts. We note that you have a number of agricultural related businesses and seen that there is large support for agricultural development in Nigeria at this stage.”

    While presenting the award, the CEO Forbes Business Solutions, Mike Furlong, said the award was to let the CBN chief know that each year, Forbes Emerging Markets honours a person whose achievements falls within the mission of our organisation, which is to promote further investment in Africa by United States investors.

    He listed past winners to include Aliko Dangote, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Bill Delly, adding that today, “we are honoured to welcome Godwin Emefiele to join that club”.

    Responding after receiving the award, Emefiele thanked Forbes for finding him worthy of receiving the award, tagged: “Best of Africa” on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

    Emefiele said it was most important to thank Nigerians for standing with “us particularly during the very difficult times. I say difficult times then, although I make bold now to say we are out of it. Like you all know, the last three years have been tumultuous not just for Nigeria but the global economy, arising largely from the external shocks that hit, particularly the commodity exporting countries.”

    The shocks, he pointed out, led to the plummeting of Nigeria’s reserves as crude oil price fell to a point where it dropped by February 2016, “to as low as $28 per barrel. If you compare this price to the time when it averaged $100 per barrel for five straight years from 2009 to middle of 2014, you will all agree with me that we have gone through a lot.”

    He said another shock that hit Nigeria like other countries was the United States normalisation to the point that in the last quarter of 2016, about $40 billion left emerging and frontier markets back to US. He said geopolitical tensions also affected flow of funds, including Nigeria, and these, he pointed out, climaxed when “we recorded negative growth. It also got to a point in the third quarter of 2016 where we got negative 2.3 per cent. We also saw inflation hitting us badly. By January 2016, inflation was just nine per cent, but by January 2017, prices have gone up and inflation had hit up to 18 per cent and Nigerians no doubt became uncomfortable.”

    At this point, the CBN chief said, “we at the Monetary Policy Committee felt that at this level, something needed to be done. In a study at the CBN, we came to a conclusion that at the level it would be difficult to stimulate growth. So we decided to take inflation head on.

    “We are happy today that we are doing about 16 per cent now and it would be tamed with other policies in place.”

    He also spoke on the reserves. By June 2014, Nigeria’s reserves stood at about $37 billion. As a result of the shock, by October 2016, with all the measures we have taken, it dropped to about $23 billion,

    “We felt that having taken all the measures so far- currency adjustments three times from N155 to N168 to N197 and above N200, and February this year, a section of the market hit N525, we said something had to be done. But I am happy today that we are here.”

    Emefiele praised the foreign investor community for being very supportive, saying “we took some of the decisions that they didn’t like, but I know that we have taken one this time around that excited them. The opening of the Investors’ & Exporters’ Forex Window has been particularly exciting to them.”

    He said that in six months, the window has attracted about $10 billion in inflows into Nigeria. “We feel so grateful to them for showing the confidence in Nigeria again. But I think all this also is because President Muhammadu Buhari has always said that: we had unfortunately been hit by this exogenous shock and it had resulted in inflation and plummeting in reserves, but that we needed at some point to look at the items Nigeria imports into the country,” he said.

    Emefiele said Nigeria is a big market with 180 million people growing at an average population rate of three per cent annually. “There was a time in Nigeria when we produced everything we were eating. We were producing rice, palm oil etc. Nigeria was the highest producer and exporter of palm oil in the world with over 40 per cent market share sometimes in the 60s and 70s. But unfortunately because we found oil, we decided to take things easy”.

    We are delighted we put FX restriction on 41 items and that has increase patronage for local goods.

    “Today, companies that require starch and glucose for their pharmaceuticals and formulations patronise Nigerians. This has created jobs for us. That is the spirit of Nigerians. This is part of the reasons the President said we needed to patronise Made-in-Nigeria and I am happy that we are doing this. But I think it is also important that we thank everybody, particularly Nigerians. Yes, we have just managed to exit the recession with a fragile growth of 0.5 per cent; we have seen inflation trending downwards, we have seen exchange rate and reserves looking stronger and firmer. But I think we are determined to continue to push further to see to it that Nigeria returns to its historical growth path”.

    He said the new commitment to support agricultural development, will help reduce unemployment.

    “Countries that have progressed have done so because they took the agriculture sector very seriously. We are determined to make agriculture the sector where people make money and we have decided to put in place the Anchor Borrowers Programme. Before we introduced the ABP, farmers go to farm rice and all the yield they were getting was one to 1.5 metric tonnes per hectare”.

    “After we started the ABP, today we are beginning to see farmers getting yield as high as eight metric tonnes per hectare, reducing their costs and making it possible to make their money in rice cultivation. We have seen that there is a need for us to thing about how do we improve the wealth of our rural community. We started that journey and through rice, we have achieved that,” he stated.

     

  • We’ll implement policies to ensure Nigeria recovers fast from recession – Emefiele

    The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele has said the apex bank will ensure the implementation of policies that will further improve the nation’s economy especially now that it has exited recession.

    Emefiele revealed at the CBN’s 24th seminar for finance correspondents and editors in Awka, Anambra State on Wednesday. Emefiele noted that he is “hugely optimistic that improved outcomes will be recorded in our work towards taming inflation, bringing down interest rates and guaranteeing exchange rate stability.”

    To achieve this, the CBN, he said is “consistently devising ingenious approaches to solve our peculiar challenges and will continue to learn from the experiences of other countries, particularly developing nations.”

    Emefiele however lamented that “the major challenge has been structurally-induced inflation, which has presented a dilemma to policy makers on whether to align the rates with socially desired or policy consistent outcomes.”

    To address these challenges, the CBN he said “has embarked on massive monetary stimulus through direct interventions in sectors that hold immense benefits for the broader economy.”

    Such interventions have been in agriculture, micro, medium and small scale enterprises (MSMEs), power sector, aviation and youth entrepreneurship, among others.

    These measures he said were necessitated by the liquidity (and credit) crunch that followed the global financial crises.

    The CBN, Emefiele said “has consistently sought to formulate interest and exchange rate policies that are conducive to the development of domestic private industrial activities, while taking due cognizance of other macroeconomic variables.”

    Speaking on foreign exchange (forex) and interest rate developments in the country, Emefiele said the apex bank recently introduced flexbile forex regime, with forex restrictions placed on the importation of 41 items.

    “This became inevitable in order to curtail fast depleting foreign reserves, occasioned by the significant demand for imports in Nigeria,” he said.

    The CBN, he added, “has consistently supported the economy with robust supply of foreign exchange to deposit money banks (DMBs) particularly to meet demands for invisibles such as school fees, medical tourism and personal travelling allowance. This has led to stability in the naira exchange rate against the US Dollar.”

    Emefiele warned that fundamentals of the domestic environment needed to be promoted to support domestic production and invariably curtail imports.

    To this end, the CBN he said “has consistently sought to formulate interest and exchange rate policies that are conducive to the development of domestic private industrial activities, while taking due cognizance of other macroeconomic variables.”

    The CBN he assured will continue to explore further avenues to ensure that interest rates are supportive of domestic production needs.

    While the “Bank will continually fine tune measures to ensure and guarantee a stable exchange rate regime. With on-going recovery in economic performance.”

  • [PHOTOS] Buhari meets with Emefiele, Adeosun, others

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele.

    The meeting, which held at the State House in Abuja, was attended by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari.

    Also in attendance are the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma.

     

     

     

  • Adeosun, Udoma, Emefiele meet Buhari, brief him on state of economy

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday received almost a two-hour briefing from the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, her Budget and National Planning counterpart, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

    The Ministers and CBN Governor updated the President on the improving economy, implementation of the 2017 Budget, preparation for the 2018 Budget, revenue strategies, combined cost reduction and debt management.

    Also discussed were monetary policy strategies and their economic impact, among others.

    President Buhari, while reminding the Ministers and CBN Governor that reviving the economy was one of the major planks on which the campaign of his party – the All Progressives Congress – was based, expressed gladness that things were looking up after two years of yeoman’s job.

    Urging them to keep at it, the President noted that the main aim of government was to bring succour to Nigerians across all walks of life.

    President Buhari also declared that he was pleased with the progress being made on different fronts.

     

    NAN

  • Recession: Emefiele targets single digit inflation rate

    The governor of the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele on Sunday said the actualisation of a single digit inflation rate is possible in the country.

    Emefiele revealed this on a monitored programme on Arise Television.

    Emefiele explained that with the improvement seen in growth from the negative 1.7 per cent in the last quarter of last year to the negative 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, the inflation target “is achievable in the course of time”.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Nigeria’s inflation rate fell for a fourth straight month in May, dropping to the lowest in a year as growth in prices of most goods, except food, eased. Inflation slowed to 16.25 per cent from 17.2 percent in April, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

    The CBN govenor spoke of huge success in exchange rate stability, based on the intervention of the apex bank had took in the last couple of months.

    In his words: “In 2017, with the improvement we have seen in growth, from the negative 1.7 per cent in the last quarter of last year to the negative 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year. We have seen exchange rate stability with some of the actions we have taken in the last couple of months. We do expect that if this trend continues, we should get better. Firstly, with inflation trending downwards, we are hopeful that in the course of time, we will get back again back to single digit inflation.”

    He said the country had developed homegrown solutions to its economic challenges and that the feedbacks from those decisions are positive.

    “ Why needed to adopt Nigerian option, because of our peculiar reasons. On inflation, the CBN had a target of six to nine per cent, unfortunately, it grew to 18.8 per cent and I am happy it is coming down, and I am hopeful it will continue to get better. We looked at the foreign exchange market, and today we have ensured that forex is not N500/$1. It is now between N360 and N370/$1 and we will ensure it gets even better from where it is right now,” he said.

    On some of the stabilisation steps taken by the regulator, Emefiele said the apex bank had opened the market up for more people to come in. “We want more people to in and invest in the economy, and that was why we introduced the Investors’ & Exporters’ Window. We want forex market that will be determined by demand and supply. It has helped in forex flow and led to the appreciation in the naira we are seeing today,” Emefiele said.

    On the real exchange rate for the naira, he said that despite any method used in determining the value of the local currency, the real effective exchange rate should not be above N325/N330 to dollar.

    On the restriction of forex for 41 items, Emefiele said there was need to take a look at what is being imported. “Why should we import toot pick, palm oil and even rice? At a point in time, Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil, controlling 40 per cent of the market share. Why should we set aside forex for the importation of products that we can produce in the country. My view is that forex should be devoted to critical segments of the economy and for the importation of items that we cannot produce in the country,” he said.

    The CBN boss’ logic is that when items, such as palm oil, are imported, the local producers are made poorer.

    “When we import rice, we impoverish the rice producers in Abakaliki, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and other parts of the country. We need to look at that very seriously because God has blessed this country, with good climate, good weather, which should be taken advantage of. Since we can produce these things, let’s use them to feed our people so that we can save foreign exchange for the country,” he said

    Emefiele said he grew up seeing the country’s economy thriving in the 60s and 70s, adding that he owed Nigerians an obligation to ensure that the economy rebounds.

    Emefiele also said with the level of commitment shown to agriculture and rice production, many manufacturers were already indicating interest in the supporting government’s efforts.

    “As we continue this plan, we have seen some multinationals coming to say they will join us in rice production, palm oil production among others,” he said, adding that the CBN would continue to support multinational that help in building the economy by supporting government’s efforts at promoting agriculture.

    “If PZ Wilmar Nigeria needs foreign exchange because they have a little shortfall, I will give them because I have seen their contributions to the economy. Coscharis has acquired thousands of hectares of land in Anambra, trying to grow rice. And we were there last year, and this year, we will be there again to see what they have done. Dangote is also investing in rice farming,” he said.

    Emefiele said Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Anambra and Ebonyi states were showing lots of interest in rice production, adding that with the sustenance of these efforts, Nigeria’s economy will be on the path of recovery.

     

  • Customs N30trn probe: Senate summons Emefiele, Adeosun, banks

    Customs N30trn probe: Senate summons Emefiele, Adeosun, banks

    The Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff has summoned Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, over alleged N30 trillion import duties infractions.

    Also invited are the managing directors of all commercial banks, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Customs Service and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

    They are expected to appear before members of the committee on Tuesday.

    Chairman of the committee, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, told newsmen in Abuja that the invitation was part of ongoing investigation by the committee on the issues.

    ”The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been directed to appear with the managing directors of all commercial banks responsible for collecting Import Duties and levies on behalf of the Federal Government.

    ”All managing directors are expected to be here in person as the committee will not allow representation.

    ” We will also invite FIRS that has the statutory responsibility of ensuring that all taxable issues are resolved as and at when due.

    ”We are also inviting CAC that has the identity of the operating companies in Nigeria.

    ”The Nigerian Customs Service, the Department of Trade and Exchange of the CBN are expected at the meeting.

    ” We will meet to discuss our findings with them and ask questions. We will then move into companies that are currently operating what we call cartek in the country.

    ”These companies have evaded so much taxes running into so much money that government would have used for the provision of social services and critical infrastructure.

    ”You will recall that the Senate mandated the committee to investigate the entire import and export value chain.

    ”This is with a view to identifying areas of revenue leakages and to what extent all these monies have been carted away.

    ”We have done some preliminary investigation and we have identified areas of infractions and we have collected necessary documents from relevant agencies of government and the private sector,” he said.

    Uzodinma expressed confidence that the committee would recover, if not all, but a chunk of the monies it was investigating.

    He assured that the committee would further engage relevant anti-graft agencies to prosecute culprits to act as deterrent, at the end of its finding.

  • N13bn Ikoyi loot: I won’t honour your invitation, CBN Governor, Emefiele tells Reps

    Sequel to his invitation by the House of Representatives Committee On National Security and Intelligence to testify in the ongoing investigation into the $43.4m (N13bn) recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from an apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has said he won’t appear before the committee.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Committee is chaired by Hon. Aminu Sani-Jaji.

    The committee had thrice summoned Emefiele; the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Dr. Ayo Oke; the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu; and the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.) to testify.

    The third sitting of the committee was Wednesday (yesterday).

    But, like in two previous occasions, all the officials shunned the committee on Wednesday.

    However, Emefiele wrote the lawmakers to say that he did not think it was appropriate for him to come because he would be in breach of the National Security Agencies Act.

    In the letter, which was read out to members by Sani-Jaji, the CBN governor argued that the Act prohibited the disclosure of security information publicly.

    He noted that security information was ‘classified information’, which the law barred him from releasing to the public.

    The CBN governor further argued that a committee chaired by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had already investigated the cash recovery.

    But the lawmakers were enraged and berated Emefiele for acting like ‘someone who lacks the capacity to differentiate between a legislature and the executive arm of government’.

    Sani-Jaji stated, “This CBN governor doesn’t even know that there is something called separation of powers.”

     

  • CBN injects $457.3m into forex market

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday injected 457.3 million dollars into various segments of the market.

    The CBN Spokesman, Mr Isaac Okorafor in a statement in Abuja, said that both the spot and forwards segments garnered 267.3 million dollars, while the wholesale segment got 100 million dollars.

    Okorafor said the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles segments comprising basic travel allowance, tuition fee and medical got 50 million dollars and 40 million dollars respectively.

    Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) checks on the volume of trading on the Investors and Exporters foreign exchange window in the past three weeks on the FMDQ platform revealed that 600 million dollars had been sold by both the CBN and autonomous sources.

    Okorafor expressed satisfaction with the level of activities in the market.

    He said that the volume of activities being recorded in the Investors and Exporters forex segment was indicative of the fact that investors were attracted to the Nigerian financial market and the economy in general.

    NAN checks also revealed that the Naira closed at N383 to a dollar at the parallel market.