Nigeria’s central bank is considering
halting sales of dollars to import goods that are already
manufactured in the country as it seeks to reduce pressure on
the local currency hit by a drop in oil prices.
“The only thing that will reduce pressure on our currency
is by producing those things we are importing today,” Central
Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said at a conference on
Tuesday in Lagos, the commercial capital. “We will try as much
as possible not to hurt your business, but we need to be able to
work together.”
Africa’s largest economy is struggling to deal with a
decline in crude prices near the lowest in six years, sales of
which bring in more than two-thirds of government revenue. The
Abuja-based central bank devalued the naira in November and
raised the benchmark interest rate to a record 13 percent.
The central bank that month also banned the use of dollars
purchased at its twice-weekly auctions for the importation of
items including electronics, telecommunication equipment and
generators.
The regulator “will meet legitimate demand, but we will
not be concerned about illegitimate demand,” Emefiele said. If
the central bank allowed the naira to trade more freely then
“it will lead to a major depreciation” as Nigeria is not yet
an export-driven economy, he said.
The naira has slumped 16 percent against the dollar on the
interbank market in the past six months, the most among 24
African countries tracked by Bloomberg. It traded at 192.45 at
of 12:43 p.m. in Lagos, its lowest on record.
Emefiele reiterated that the central bank has no plans to
further devalue the currency.
“We continue to take all measures to defend the currency
at the current exchange rate,” he said in an interview with
Bloomberg TV Africa.
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