{"id":46810,"date":"2016-02-24T21:29:55","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=46810"},"modified":"2016-02-24T21:29:55","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T20:29:55","slug":"imf-urges-buhari-lift-restrictions-forex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/imf-urges-buhari-lift-restrictions-forex\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF Urges Buhari To Lift Restrictions on FOREX"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called <span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1397611588\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Wednesday<\/span><\/span> for Nigeria to<br \/>\nlift foreign exchange curbs and let the naira reflect \u201cmarket forces\u201d more<br \/>\nclosely, also urging more fiscal discipline and structural reform to<br \/>\nbolster growth.<\/p>\n<p>President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected a naira devaluation and backed<br \/>\nhefty restrictions imposed by the central bank to prevent a collapse of<br \/>\nthe naira as Africa\u2019s biggest economy is whacked by a slump in oil<br \/>\nrevenues, its lifeblood.<\/p>\n<p>Companies have laid off thousands, cut production and even closed<br \/>\noperations as they struggle to get enough dollars to pay for imported<br \/>\nspare parts and raw materials.<\/p>\n<p>The naira is trading as much as 40 percent below the official rate on the<br \/>\nblack market. Devaluation would encourage investment and make domestically<br \/>\nproduced goods more affordable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe exchange rate should be allowed to reflect market forces more and<br \/>\nrestrictions on access to foreign exchange removed, while improving the<br \/>\nfunctioning of the interbank foreign exchange market,\u201d the<br \/>\nWashington-based fund said in a statement, after consultations with top<br \/>\nofficials in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Currency curbs had \u201csignificantly\u201d affected parts of the private sector<br \/>\nand the economic outlook for Africa\u2019s top oil producer was \u201cchallenging\u201d,<br \/>\nit said.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria needs to import anything from milk to machines as authorities have<br \/>\nfailed to end its dependency on oil, a fact Buhari wants to change but<br \/>\nwhich business leaders say will be impossible to achieve if plants cannot<br \/>\nimport raw materials.<\/p>\n<p>The IMF also said it expected the West African nation to grow by 3.2<br \/>\npercent this year, below the official forecast of 3.78 percent. It urged<br \/>\nboosting non-oil revenues, raising infrastructure spending and collecting<br \/>\nmore taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith oil prices expected to remain low for a long time, continuing risk<br \/>\naversion by international investors, and downside risks in the global<br \/>\neconomy, the outlook remains challenging,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>The views of the IMF are relevant as Nigeria wants to borrow from the<br \/>\nWorld Bank to help fund a budget deficit of 3 trillion naira. Sometimes<br \/>\nthe IMF gets involved in such programmes asking for policy changes.<\/p>\n<p>The government wants to borrow up to $5 billion abroad for the budget and<br \/>\nhas also held talks with China and the African Development Bank. It has<br \/>\nalso considered issuing Eurobonds although nothing concrete has emerged<br \/>\npublicly on that.<\/p>\n<p>Buhari was elected last year on an anti-corruption ticket, promising to<br \/>\ncreate jobs in the nation of 170 million, where only a super-rich elite<br \/>\nhas benefited from its energy wealth.<\/p>\n<p>He unveiled a record budget in December to improve power supply, build<br \/>\nroads and invest in telecommunications but had to withdraw it due to flaws<br \/>\nand optimistic oil price calculations.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"aBn\" tabindex=\"0\" data-term=\"goog_1397611589\"><span class=\"aQJ\">On Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, the former military ruler vowed to punish those he blamed<br \/>\nfor adding \u201cunauthorised alterations\u201d to the draft. \u201cThe culprits will not<br \/>\ngo unpunished,\u201d he said, according to a statement of his office.<\/p>\n<p>The IMF has welcomed his plans to lift capital expenditure.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on Wednesday for Nigeria to lift foreign exchange curbs and let the naira reflect \u201cmarket forces\u201d more closely, also urging more fiscal discipline and&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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