‘Why CBN devalued Naira’

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that it has not devalued the naira and warned currency speculators and their collaborators that  the apex bank will invoke the full weight of applicable sanctions on any persons and authorised dealers found to be involved in such disruptive and speculative market behaviour.

The CBN in a statement signed by Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said “The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) note with displeasure, the rumours and speculative activities of unscrupulous players in the foreign exchange market, borne out of the impression that the CBN is on the verge of devaluing the Naira, and triggering panic in the FX Market.

“These rumours are false, unwarranted and calculated to serve their dubious and selfish ends. We therefore wish to state as that “we have begun a robust and coordinated investigation in collaboration with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and related agencies to uncover the unscrupulous persons and FX dealers who are creating this panic, and the full weight of our rules and regulations will be meted out to them, including, but not limited to, being charged for economic sabotage; for nearly four years, the CBN has successfully maintained relative stability in all segments of the foreign exchange market, which has enabled investors, households and other economic agents to plan and to conduct their genuine foreign exchange transactions with relative ease.”

The statement further said “The introduction of several foreign exchange management measures side-by-side with complementary interventions in food production and manufacturing has drastically reduced food importation, which hitherto constituted a large chunk of the pressure on the foreign exchange market.

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