An economist and founder of Agusto &Co, a credit rating agency, Bode Agusto has warned that the Naira faces more depreciation in 2020 unless the Central Bank of Nigeria retracts some of its tough policies.
Agusto gave the advice while speaking at a webinar on Monday titled: “Nigeria in 2022 – Will 2022 Be a Year of Strong Growth Driven by Herd Immunity from COVID-19?”
According to him, one way to reduce the pressure in the foreign exchange (forex) market was for the CBN to resume the sales of dollars to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
Mr. Agusto also projected that if the CBN maintained its current stand not to sell dollars directly to the BDC operators, the naira to dollar exchange rate would depreciate to N620/$1 in the parallel market before the end of 2022.
Mr Agusto stated that the naira would continue to suffer in the parallel market if additional liquidity was not brought into the market through the BDCs.
He said, “We see continued pressure on the parallel market exchange rates.
He also predicted that the much-anticipated rate convergence in the foreign exchange market would take longer than expected since the central bank would be hell-bent on pegging the official rate.
