Nigeria Records $48 Bln Transactions On I&E Forex Window In 2-Year ~CBN

Nigeria has so far recorded $48 billion transactions on the Investors' and Exporters' Foreign exchange window in two years, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor has disclosed.

Godwin Emefiele said the effect of the establishment of the forex window has been positive on the country's foreign exchange reserves since it was created in April 2017.
Emefiele, who spoke at a lecture in the University of Benin, said Nigeria's external reserves have rose to $45 billion by April this year from $23 billion in October 2016.
According to him, the current stock of external reserves was able to finance nine months of current import commitments, far above the three months global benchmark.
He said with the improved availability of foreign exchange, the exchange rate at I&E FX Window had remained stable over the past 24 months at an average of N360/$, and the parallel market exchange rate had appreciated from N525/$ in February 2017 to N360/$ today.
Nigeria established the I&E forex window in April 2017 to provide channels for offshore investors to bring in their dollar at the prevailing exchange rate in contrast to what obtained at the other windows. The move was to install confidence in the offshore investors who were discouraged by the uncertainty pervading the forex market and the economy in the wake of recession and an attempt by the government to conserve foreign exchange through the managed float forex regime.
The governor of the apex bank, who was recently confirmed to serve another term of five years, however, wants the West African country's monetary and fiscal authorities to brace up for the impending global economic crisis and prepare measures ahead to tackle its impact on the generality of the people.
“From some of my concluding remarks, you may have observed, whether you like it or not, there is global uncertainty that will, unfortunately, most certainly lead to another crisis.
“The question could be, how are we as Nigerians, particularly our leaders, I am talking of monetary and fiscal policy authorities, how are we preparing our country for the next crisis?
“We have luckily exited recession; we have seen inflation pending downward to about 18.72 percent in 2017 to about 11. 37 percent today.
“We have seen the reserve moving up but unfortunately we still have issues and those issues border on the unemployment rate and those issues border on how we prepare our country,” Emefiele said in his lecture entitled ‘Beyond the Global Financial Crisis: Monetary Policy under Global Uncertainty.’