President Muhammadu Buhari has assured his administration would not devalue the Naira.
Speaking Wednesday, in Paris, France, he said he opposed a further weakening of the naira and openly endorsed the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN’s policy of restricting foreign-exchange trading.
The President, who was answering questions in an interview with France 24 broadcast, said: “I do not think it is healthy for us to get the naira devalued. The Central Bank is providing ample foreign exchange to essential services, industries.”buhari-Naira
CBN has been under pressure from foreign investors to further devalue the naira. Nigeria had, last year, devalued the naira to N197 to the dollar from N160. The naira was further adjusted slightly in July to N199 to the dollar. As a result of the continued pressure on the naira, CBN introduced some measures to curb the excess demand for foreign exchange.
This, however, did not go down well with some of the foreign investors. After the crash of oil prices last year, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, reacted to the naira’s drop to a record low in February by extending trading curbs and introducing bans on purchases of dollars by 41 items, which CBN said cannot access foreign exchange from the Nigeria market.