CBN restates commitment to price, financial system stability

The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has reiterated the Apex Bank will continue to pursue price and financial system stability, support job creation and ensure a more inclusive growth in the economy.
Emefiele, stated this at the at the 2018 Annual Bankers’ Dinner Lagos.
The CBN governor insisted that despite criticisms of its policies, it will continue to do what is in the best interest of the country.
He said: “As policymakers, our perspectives are typically different from many talking heads, as our data, information sources and outlook remain superior. I therefore enjoin our critics to avoid being hasty in their condemnation of our policies. Some policies take time to bear fruit.”
The Apex Bank boss further said that in a bid to ensure self-sufficiency and reduce Nigeria’s excessive dependence on imports, the CBN invigorated its development finance activities.
According to him, the Bank maintained a particular focus on supporting farmers, entrepreneurs as well as small and medium scale businesses, through our various intervention programs such as the Anchor Borrowers Program, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the National Collateral Registry.
“In the agriculture sector, the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) has ensured that Nigeria emerged from being a net importer of rice to becoming a major producer of rice, supplying key markets in neighboring countries.
“As at October 2018, a total number of 862,069 farmers cultivating about 835,239 hectares, across 16 different commodities, have so far benefited from the Anchor Borrowers programme, which has generated 2,502,675 jobs across the country,” he added.
The CBN helmsman maintained that Bank will not relent as it continues to aims at “sustaining  a stable exchange rate is of overriding importance to us even as we continue to put measures in place to shore up reserves” noting that current capital flow reversals from emerging markets is expected to continue to exert considerable pressure on the Naira.  
On supporting domestic production, Emefiele explained that given the remarkable success that has been achieved in stimulating domestic production of goods such as rice, cassava and maize, as a result of the restrictions placed by the CBN on access to forex for 41 items, “the CBN intends to vigorously ensure that this policy remains in place, and additional efforts would be made to block any attempts by unscrupulous parties(both individuals and 39 corporates) that intend to find other avenues of accessing forex, in order to import these items into Nigeria.”
He added: “The CBN’s Economic intelligence and Banking Supervision Departments will work very hard with the EFCC to expose and sanction any, bank, company or Fx operator that colludes with unscrupulous individuals / companies to undermine the policy on 41 items. Such sanctions will include, but not limited to prohibiting the banks from maintaining any bank accounts for such institutions or persons in Nigeria.”
Given the global and domestic headwinds Nigeria faces as a nation, the CBN governor averred that due to the volatility that is being experienced in the crude oil market, there is need for the authorities to work very hard to spur job creation by reviving agricultural and industrial activities in the country.
“If we continue to support the growth of small holders farmers, as well as help to revive palm oil refineries, rice mills, cassava and tomato processing 40 factories, you can only imagine the amount of wealth and jobs that will be created in the country; these could include new set of small holders farmers that will be engaged in productive activities; new logistics companies that will transport raw materials to factories, and finished goods to the market; new storage centres that will be built to store locally produced goods; additional growth for our banks and financial institutions as they will be able to provide financial services to support these new businesses; and finally, the millions of Nigerians that will be employed in factories to support processing of goods.
“If we turn a blind eye to the opportunities that are being created as a result of our policy on 41 items, we will be spelling doom for our nation. We can no longer afford to depend solely on imports given the size of our population, and the need to create jobs for our people. This is precisely the purpose behind our intention to restrict access to forex on 41 items, and I urge all stakeholders to 41 come onboard, as we intend to be vigorous in our pursuit of this objective,” he added.