Further Devaluation Will Worsen Poverty, Unemployment, Expert Counters Osinbajo

The president of the Association of Capital market Academics and Nigeria’s first professor of capital market, Uche Uwaleke has said the Naira has suffered several devaluations in the recent past, and doing so yet again is a recipe for high poverty and unemployment levels.

Uwalake was responding to the comment of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to allow the Naira reflects the realities of the market.

Speaking at the midterm retreat of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure, the vice-president said the exchange rate is artificially low, and this is deterring investors from bringing foreign exchange into the country.

Nigerian Professor of Capital Market, Uche Uwalake in a swift reaction to the comment of the Vice president said: “The first casualty will be the 2022 Appropriation Bill. It means the 2022 budget, which is predicated on N410.15 per dollar is dead on arrival.

“The Vice President obviously means well. But this statement is capable of triggering panic buying and speculation in the forex market (official and parallel) and further complicating things for the CBN. “

He said: “To be sure, the Naira has suffered several devaluations in the recent past. It has neither solved the fundamental problem of helping to diversify the export base nor curbed unbridled imports. Doing so yet again will not change anything. Rather, it’s a recipe for high poverty and unemployment levels.

The Naira currency is changing for N411/$ at the official window but N565/$ at the parallel market.

-Dailytrust