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The incumbent CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele took a strong stance some days ago in favor of the naira as the senate confirmed him. He indicated that the CBN’s exchange rate policy was right and that a devaluation of the NGN will be devastating for the economy. Development analysts regard his decision not to depart from CBN’s dollar/naira stability stance as positive. The new CBN governor has also promised to take measures to support the naira which has remained under pressure for quite some time now, while also indicating that CBN’s exchange rate policy was correct. He told the Senators “I am aware that the core mandate of the Central Bank of Nigeria is to achieve the monetary and price stability. Another core mandate of the CBN is to ensure that we have a strong naira and build strong foreign reserve. We are also expected to ensure that we have a strong financial system in Nigeria. His designate had said earlier before he was approved that “We will ensure if approved, that whatever monetary policy decision that will be taken wild be those that will improve the level of employment in Nigeria because we know that employment is very important. We know today that we have an employment emergency in Nigeria. And we must ensure that whatever decisions we take at the CBN in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be those that would lead to improvement in the level of employment in Nigeria. We will ensure that we work with the manufacturing companies to ensure that we improve on their level of production and by extension, ensure that we improve and achieve economic growth in Nigeria.” He continued, “Aside from these core mandates, we would ensure that the CBN and all stakeholders in the economy play a central role towards ensuring that we grow the Nigerian economy. Growing the economy of Nigeria is a very important assignment, other than just the core mandate of ensuring that we have a stable environment.” Samir Gadio, emerging markets analyst with Standard Bank, London said, “While there was no explicit discussion about the adequate level of policy and market yields, the incoming CBN Governor’s commitment to exchange rate stability makes it unlikely that there will be official rate cuts anytime soon.” Analysts at Renaissance Capital (Rencap) also said concerning him, “Our bank analyst, Nothando Ndebele, describes him as very conservative. Under his stewardship Zenith has established itself as a leading, well-capitalized and stable bank with a high portion of assets sitting in T-bills and bonds. We believe he is likely to maintain a firm policy environment and would be inclined to tighten policy in the current environment of naira weakness.” Hussaini Muhammed, managing director of Abuja based Muregi Associates limited said, “Central Bank as the Bankers Bank is traditionally associated with conservatism worldwide. Therefore the incoming Governor, Godwin Emefiele would be expected to maintain that policy framework. However, I believe or will recommend that while he maintains that policy framework of conservatism, it should be done with moderation just as the immediate past U S Federal Reserve Governor, Ben Bernaike did throughout his tenure and to a large extent the current Governor Janet Yellen is expected to tow the same line of approach. It will somehow generate confidence to the overall economy and the market as a whole. The implications of rigid adherence to the usual conservatism wouldn’t work for any emerging economy.”

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This article was first published on 28th March 2014

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