An economist has advised the Nigerian government to ensure that every litre of crude oil sold is receipted in foreign currency as a quick fix to the free fall of the Naira at the foreign exchange market.
Paul Alaje, the Chief Economist at SPM Professionals, gave the advice during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday.
He noted that the government must be firm in implementing its policy intervention to regain investors’ confidence, especially multinational firms.
“There are things that must be done. If we don’t do these things, it will be impossible to stop the free fall of the Naira. If you lift one litre of crude oil in Nigeria, all the receipts must be in foreign currency. This is a short time measure that will boost FX inflows into Nigeria”, he said.
OsunDailyNG recalls that the CBN had issued a new circular that removes the previous cap on exchange rates quoted by International Money Transfer Operators, IMTOs.
The circular, Hassan Mahmud, Director of Trade and Exchange Department, signed was titled ‘Removal of Allowable Limit of Exchange Rate Quoted by the International Money Transfer Operators’.
Amid the free fall of Naira in the past 48 hours, CBN issued sweeping policy interventions to curb the continued fluctuations in the country’s FX market.
OsunDailyNG recalls that CBN also issued a guideline on Wednesday to curb foreign currency hoarding and speculation.
The development had impacted the Naira positively as it rebounded against the US dollar on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the forex has remained high, at N1461.90 per dollar at Thursday’s close of the FMDQ market.
