The new found stability of the naira is enabling investors and business owners alike to plan for activities after the currency suffered steep devaluations, Tony Elumelu, a business mogul, has observed.
The naira is gaining, hovering between 1,588 and 1,611 per dollar this month, despite the global uncertainty that has left emerging markets currencies reeling from sweeping tariffs triggered by President Donald Trump.
“The naira is becoming quite stable,” Elumelu, who is the chairman of United Bank for Africa and a member of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council in Nigeria, said at the Qatar Economic Forum Tuesday.
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“I’d like to see that continuing,” the African tycoon added.
The naira shed more than 71 percent of its value after authorities embarked on market reforms intended to lure inflows and end dollar shortages in Africa’s most populous nation over 18 months ago.
“Currency volatility is a challenge for Africa and Asia. In the global south, fixing the volatility of our currencies will be very critical for ultimately developing our economies,” Elumelu, who is also the biggest shareholder of Transnational Corp. of Nigeria Plc said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria rolled out a series of policies including clearing a backlog of dollar demand, offering fixed income securities at high yields to attract portfolio inflows and boosting supply to the forex market in an attempt to limit the impact of Trump’s tariffs.
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The Abuja-based bank equally retained all prudential monetary controls in its 300th policy meeting to further tame the already easing inflation and shore up the naira.
Key benchmark interest rates remained unchanged at 27.5 percent, marking the second consecutive hold this year after the lender raised borrowing rates throughout its meetings last year
