Nigeria expects $10 billion forex inflows in weeks — Minister

Nigeria is expecting $10 billion worth of foreign exchange in the relatively near future, the Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, has said.

Mr Edun disclosed this while speaking during a panel session at the ongoing Nigeria Economic Summit (NES) in Abuja on Monday.

Over the past four months, the naira has depreciated by over 50 per cent at both the authorised and unauthorised market segments, after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced in June that it had collapsed all forex windows into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

The move, according to the apex bank, is part of the Nigerian government’s efforts to improve liquidity and stability in the market and attract foreign investors into the Nigerian economy.

Although the policy was widely applauded as well-intentioned and necessary, it has put additional pressure on the local currency and manufacturers, with ripple effects on domestic prices.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Edun said the government has a line of sight of forex inflows into the country in weeks rather than months.

“In addition, from the supply of foreign exchange through NNPC, increased production, reduced expenditure, from transactions such as forward sales, from our discussions with sovereign wealth funds, that are ready to invest and provide advanced alongside that investment, there is a line of sight of $10 billion worth of foreign exchange in the relatively near future in weeks rather months,” Mr Edun said.

He explained that President Tinubu has signed an executive order that effectively allows under forbearance all the cash that is in the domestic economy to legally come into the formal money supply.

“Mr President announced that he had taken measures to ease illiquidity in the forex market which we know is very problematic at this time. The market is illiquid; it’s not functioning properly because there is no supply and there are various reasons for that.

“The solution that the President has put on the table is that he has signed an executive order that effectively allows under forbearance all the cash that is in the domestic economy to legally come into the formal money supply.

“Along with that, there is another executive order that allows domestic issuance of foreign currency instruments so that they will have the incentive to provide that foreign exchange from whatever source,” he said.

Last Tuesday, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Naira plummeted to its lowest rate against the United States dollar at the official market.

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According to market data published on the FMDQ website, the local currency closed at N848.12 per dollar on Tuesday, as against N778.80 recorded in the previous session on Monday. Tuesday’s rate translates to 8.9 per cent depreciation from N778.80 it exchanged on Monday.

According to the data, the naira opened at N758.50 but slipped to N848.12 at the close of business on Tuesday as foreign exchange supply within the market segment skyrocketed significantly.

This newspaper reported that forex supplied within the session on Tuesday is pegged at $134.8 million, which represents about a 212 per cent increase from $43.09 million posted on Monday.

Within the business period on Tuesday, the naira reached an intraday high of N700.00 and spiralled to a low of N981.00 before settling at N848.12 per $1.