The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has praised the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) forex policy for its efforts to unify the country’s currency.
This move is a significant step towards stabilizing the country’s economy and promoting business growth.
Speaking on the new policy, the President of ACCI, Dr Al-Mujtaba Abubakar stated that the development was as a result of the political will of the president to ensure economic growth in the country by enabling the business community to access foreign currency through deposit banks to conduct their businesses.
Dr Abubakar said the unification of the foreign exchange by CBN would reduce the need for the black market purchase of Dollars, thereby, easing its access for everyone as deposit banks will have Dollars and trade at the rate they decide which brings about healthy competitions in the market.
According to him, “in the same vein, the unification of forex calls for tight fiscal policy implementation as the floating of the Naira can make the economy more vulnerable, and inflation will continue if the dollar continues to go up against the Naira which also affects Nigeria’s foreign debt which is having a toll on our finances.”
He added that the government should therefore ensure that the local economy is protected as the floating of the dollar may allow the importation of some banned items into the country which may stunt the growth of many merging sectors especially in agriculture.
Before now, Nigeria operated two exchange rates, the CBN rate at N445/$1 which was hardly ever available in the banks, and the black market rate of N755/$1 which was easily accessible with the Bureau de Change.
The situation was as a result of the government fixing the price which was not a market determinant. This gave room for the black market to thrive as they offered favorable prices to change their dollars to Naira and since the deposit bank hardly have hard Dollars available most people bought dollars for as high as N800/$1.
As a result, importers faced a monumental struggle in obtaining dollars to complete their business, as the black market rate was high, making imported goods and services more expensive for consumers.
It also made it impossible for foreign enterprises operating in the country to transmit their profits back to their home country, causing complications among other things.
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