Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor
Central Bank governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at the weekend, said the apex bank agreed to bail out states to enable them pay their workers’ salaries so as to stimulate the economy.
Emefiele, who spoke in Lagos, said, “When workers are paid, the economy is stimulated because the workers will have money to pay for goods and services. This will have a ripple effect on the economy as it will initiate various economic activities.”
The CBN governor added that the non-payment of workers’ salaries had crippled the economy of the affected states, saying with the intervention of the banks that would change.
Twenty-seven states are to get N338billion as loans to be repaid over 20 years at nine per cent interest. The loan is basically meant for the payment of outstanding workers’ salaries.
The states also had their commercial debts converted to bonds to reduce their debt-service outflow and free up funds for meeting other obligations.
Speaking on the challenge with the naira, the CBN boss said speculators precipitated the crisis with the value of the currency.
His words: “When the price of crude started sliding, money speculators expected that the CBN would depreciate the naira. So they started buying up dollar. This brought serious pressure on the naira as those who needed dollar for genuine businesses could not get it and we had to defend the naira with the reserves. Eventually, we had to depreciate naira by 22 per cent. Even now, some interests are still agitating for further depreciation of the naira.”
Speaking on efforts to shore up the value of the currency, Emefiele said the CBN would do all that was necessary to protect the currency from those who were poised to profit from its continuous depreciation.
“That is why we had to come up with the list of items for which the CBN would not provide foreign exchange for their importation. Many of the items can be sourced locally but some people prefer to have them imported into the country. We are not banning the items but our position is that whoever wants to bring in any of those items has to source his foreign exchange on his own,” the governor said.
He said importers of commodities available in the country were the ones killing the economy.
According to Emefiele, “In 2012, there was just one rice mill in Nigeria. The former minister of agriculture had a meeting with the CBN and banks to advance credit to those who wanted to invest in rice milling so that the country could become self sufficient in rice production and banks did. Now, there are many rice millers in the country but these rice importers are killing their businesses; they are also killing employment generation opportunities in the country. We cannot continue that way.”
The CBN governor said all the measures taken by the apex bank were meant to save the currency and not to inflict pains on Nigerians. He assured that Nigerians with genuine needs for foreign currencies would have their needs met by the bank.
“Payment for medical bills and school fees receive immediate attention once we get the request. We will ensure that nobody who has a genuine need for foreign exchange goes through unnecessary trouble,” he said.
He also said that the CBN had no plan to run bureau de change operators out of business but added that they had to comply with the guidelines regulating their operation.
Tribune
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