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Tag: Godwin Emefiele

  • Emefiele’s mum for burial April 1

    Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has given strict orders that a low-key but decent burial should be given to his mother.

    A close family source revealed that the family took this stance “against the background of their mother’s peaceful and modest lifestyle and the prevailing economic situation in the country.”

    The burial rites of the matriarch, late Madam Alice Emefiele, of Agbor Ika South local government is scheduled to take place on 1- 2 April, 2016.

    Late Madam Emefiele was 94 years old and passed on after a brief illness on 25th December 2015.

  • $40b drained from External Reserve in 10 years, says CBN

    $40b drained from External Reserve in 10 years, says CBN

    • N1.3tr injected into real sector

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has lamented that about $40 billion was depleted from the nation’s external reserves in 10 years due to the taste for imported goods by Nigerians.

    To stop bleeding  the external reserve, the CBN has urged Nigerians to begin to process raw materials so as to get more value and earn more foreign exchange.

    According to the CBN governor Mr Godwin Emefiele, “exported raw materials such as crude, wood, cocoa amongst others whose end products are later imported, are being sold cheaply and bought back at more expensive rates.”

    He said the level of the external reserve will be significantly beefed up if fuel which takes up 20 per cent of Nigeria’s import bill is locally produced.

    Defending the decision of the CBN to support the real sector, Emefiele said the apex bank “is convinced that the sector has sufficient employment capabilities, high growth potentials, contributes significantly in accretion to foreign reserves, expands the industrial base and diversify the growth potentials of the economy.”

    Emefiele said Nigerians must, by now have been tired of hearing people talk about the potentials of Nigeria, adding that now is the time to live that dream. “ We can achieve our goals and give Nigerians the chance to live longer, better and more fulfilled lives,”he said.

    To make this possible, the CBN governor appealed “to Nigerians to patronise locally made products to encourage the manufacturers to remain in business, interventions by the bank are centered around agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Infrastructure intervention.”

    The CBN governor also disclosed that in order to make the real sector attractive to the banking industry, the apex bank has injected over N1.3 trillion into the sector.

    Speaking at the annual finance corespondent sand business editors seminar in Ibadan yesterday, Emefiele said the desire to revive and stimulate credit to the real sector was what informed the bank’s efforts to pump such huge amount of financial resources into the real sector.

    Represented  by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Adebayo Adelabu, Emefiele noted that by injecting funds and subsidising rates, and through relevant policies, the CBN has assisted in growing the economy and promoting the growth of the different sectors of their economies.

    According to Emefiele, the interventions that culminated in the over N1.3 trillion support for the real sector include “the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF),the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS), the Agricultural Credit Support Scheme (ACSS), the N300 billion Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF), the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), the Small and Medium Enterprises Refinancing and Restructuring Facility (SMERRF), the N75 billion Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), the N213 billion Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund and only recently, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.”

    The CBN is also supporting the Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM) with N50 billion export refinancing and restructuring facility as well as N500 billion as non-oil export stimulation facility. “If you add all these it is in excess of N1 trillion that have been deliberately injected into the system to ensure that they are fully resuscitated and they become attractive for commercial banks” Emefiele said.

  • Govt must diversify economy, says Emefiele

    Govt must diversify economy, says Emefiele

    Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday reiterated the need for the Federal Government to diversify its economic dependence from oil to the non-oil sectors.

    He said this at the opening of the 21st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Ibadan.

    “The rate of oil today at below $35 underscores the harsh reality that Nigeria is left with no choice but to diversify our economy away from oil, and into agriculture, manufacturing, services and non-oil sectors,’’ he said.

    Emefiele said the dwindling oil revenue provides the nation a painful but indispensable opportunity to look inwards in a bid to trigger economic growth.

    He urged Nigerians to begin to appreciate locally manufactured goods such as fabrics, saying that patronising such goods would make local industries thrive and boost economy.

  • Boosting food production in Nigeria

    Boosting food production in Nigeria

    Unarguably, the development of a strategic action plan for agricultural sector -Agricultural Transformation Agenda – remains one of the efforts of the Federal Government at boosting food production in Nigeria.

    Developed by former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the programme recognises the need to target areas that have potential for increased agricultural activities to boost food production.

    One of the outstanding components of the programmes is Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) aimed at eradicating corruption in the fertiliser sector by eliminating the middlemen in the sector.

    Supported by Electronic Wallet System, GES allows smallholder farmers to receive electronic vouchers for subsidised seeds and fertilisers directly on their mobile phones and enable them to pay for farm inputs from private dealers.

    This initiative notwithstanding, President Muhammadu Buhari recently observed that Nigeria had great potential for expanding food production but the agricultural sector faced numerous challenges.

    He noted that the challenges included low yield growth of major food and cash crops and land degradation.

    He also said inadequate infrastructure such as electricity, roads, scarcity of required farm inputs, storage and need for productive and profitable agricultural business, among others, were parts of impediments to adequate food production.

    He assured Nigerians that his administration would focus on enhancing the sector through sustainable programmes to enable farmers to acquire necessary farm inputs.

    He promised to ensure sustainable supply of fertilisers, farm chemicals, storage facilities, tractors and other modern farming tools and technologies, including irrigation, high yield seeds and access to funds.

    Further to the promise, Buhari visited Kebbi last November to inaugurate N20 billion Anchor Borrowers’ Programme – a financial window set aside by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for rice farmers across the country.

    At the inauguration, the President said: “Prior to the advent of oil, our country survived on agricultural production with huge economic potential from our palm oil, groundnut, cotton, and rubber plantations.

    “During this period, the economies of our sub-region were built on agricultural activities and our Gross Domestic Product grew steadily.

    “Our first generation state-sponsored banks and investment companies were financed with incomes from farming surpluses.

    “The discovery of oil was expected to complement our agricultural productivity but we allowed oil to almost completely replace it.

    “Current trends in the international oil market has brought to fore the urgent need to diversify both the productive and revenue base of our economy and conserve our foreign reserve by limiting our appetite for importation of goods that we can easily produce locally.

    “It is the only way to reclaim economic momentum and drive to prosperity. One way to do this is to go back to the land and develop our agricultural production.

    “That is why I have high hopes about the prospects of the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and its potential to create millions of jobs and lift thousands of smallholder farmers out of poverty.”

    The president said the programme had been designed as a one-stop solution for the agriculture value chain by creating economic linkages between farmers and processors.

    He said that the programme would ensure increased agricultural output and reduce dependence on imported foods.

    He expressed the hope that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme would be a model in the way smallholder farmers are financed across the country.

    In his opinion, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said the bank was concerned about the huge foreign exchange spent by Nigeria to import food items that could be produced locally.

    He said that the programme would be implemented in Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Zamfara, Adamawa, Plateau, Lagos, Ogun, Cross River and Ebonyi, for rice and wheat farming.

    According to him, the objective of the programme is to reduce commodity importation, conserve external reserves, reduce the level of poverty among smallholder farmers, create jobs and assist rural smallholder farmers to grow from subsistence to commercial production levels.

    He observed that the programme would also facilitate the emergence of a new generation of farmers and entrepreneurs.

    “The programme will empower 600,000 farmers in rice farming, 100,000 in wheat, fish and palm production each, 200,000 in their respective value chains in the next five years. “It is also expected to create more than1, 000,000 direct and indirect jobs in the processing segment of the value chains of selected commodities,’’ he said.

    He identified lack of mechanisation, low quality inputs and poor funding as major hindrances to rice production in Nigeria, promising that the programme would solve the problem of finance.

    He explained that farmers would be thoroughly trained on the global best agronomical practices, insisting that: “The farmers must be a member of a validated cooperative before applying for the loan.

    “We will find out how much it will take to produce one hectare of rice to determine the amount that will be given to each individual; the idea is to enhance efficient management of the resources.”

    Economists believe that the stimulation of rice production through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme will lead to increase in production of rice in all rice-producing states where the programme will be implemented.

    They note further that the inauguration of the programme in Kebbi is commendable because of the state’s history in the production of rice, maize, wheat, barley, cowpeas, onions, tomatoes, sweet and Irish potatoes, among others. Mr Oladele Idowu, an economist with a private firm in Ibadan, nonetheless, advises stakeholders in agriculture to ensure the success of the programme.

     

  • New export financing programmes coming

    New export financing programmes coming

    With the price of crude oil on the decline, the federal government has created two export financing programmes aimed at improving non oil export in the country.

    The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele said this yesterday in Abuja at a conference on stimulating non oil export, jointly organised by the CBN and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM).

    The new programmes are the Export Rediscounting and Refinacing Facility (RRF) and the Non-oil Export Stimulation Facility (ESF).

    Emefiele said “CBN and NEXIM came up with the initiative to encourage exporters to expand their businesses as well as provide a pool of funds for commercial banks to enable them support exporters.”

    The CBN painted a gloomy picture when it announced that Nigeria recorded a decline in non oil exports receipts from $10.53 billion in 2014 to $4.39 billion in 2015.

    CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele also disclosed “it has been observed that while credit to non-oil exports is declining and currently at an average of 0.6 per cent of total domestic loans to the private sector in the last five years, the domestic credit to the economy has been on the rise. The low level of export loans has no doubt also contributed to a large extent to the decline in non-oil export revenue receipts from $10.53 billion in 2014 to $4.39 billion in 2015.”

  • Senate backs CBN’s monetary policies

    The Senate yesterday gave a scanty narrative of its discussions with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at a closed door session.

    This was a clear departure from the open fora created by previous sessions of the Senate for past CBN Governors to answer critical questions on the economy and monetary issues.

    According to the Senate Committee chairman on Information, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the CBN Governor presented a detailed, comprehensive and lucid account of the performance of the economy in the last one year.

    The Senate spokesman said, “His (Emefiele) presentation began with the current global economic conditions, which have been characterised by external shocks, including the sharp decline in commodity prices, the geographical tensions along important global trading routes and tightening of monetary policy in the United States.

    “He drew linkages of these occurrences with the Nigerian economy, especially with respect to the over 70 percent decline in oil prices from about $116 per barrel in June 2014 to about $30 per barrel currently.

    “The Governor’s presentation also gave us an insight into the bank’s analysis and understanding of the situation, and therefore, the rationale underlying the countervailing policy actions it has taken over the last couple of months”.

    The narrative further stated that going by Emefiele’s analysis, the country was not doing badly in many macroeconomic indices when compared to its peers.

  • Naira won’t be devalued further – CBN Governor

    Naira won’t be devalued further – CBN Governor

    The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Friday ruled out the possibility of the Federal Government further devaluing or adjusting the Naira.

    He spoke with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the government would now rather focus improving and deepening the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market.

    “There has been a lot of talk on whether or not we want to depreciate our currency again. The truth is that we had adjusted the currency by depreciating it from N155 to N197 in February this year.
    There is no intention to depreciate or adjust the currency any longer.

    “The President has been very clear on this The Vice President has been very clear on this and let me further reiterate our position at the Central Bank of Nigeria that we are not considering any further depreciation of the currency.

    “What we are trying to concentrate on right now is how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market,” he said.

    To do so, he said that the government will try to encourage people to export and earn export proceeds which should be use to import whatever they need to import.

    However, he said that the government will also concentrate on how to reduce the import of items that can be produced in the country.

    Speaking further, he said: “So that is our focus. I’m saying and very soon the CBN will be launching a campaign called PAVE, which means ‘Produce locally, add value  and export your product and earn your foreign exchange  for your imports’ because this is the only way we can support the efforts of CBN in intervening and providing foreign exchange in the market to meet the import needs of our people.

    “It is very clear, what we need to do is reduce our propensity to import but we will not depreciate our currency. For now we will not,” he said.

    On the list of banned items, he said: “First of all the CBN does not have the power to ban the import of any item. What we have done is to exclude certain items that are imported into the country from obtaining foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

    “Yes it is also true we held a stakeholders’ meeting with the organized private sector and prominent and leading private sector stakeholder were at that meeting. It was not meant for the press.

    The purpose of that meeting was to engage the private sector to make the private sector understand that government realizes that they are engine of growth and we also used the opportunity to explain to them the basis and purpose of those policies that we have introduced and at the end of that meeting they were very happy, they saw our position and indeed at the end of that meeting some of them in fact  provided us with the names of some items that should be included in the list that should be excluded from foreign exchange.

    “And I must confess that at this stage given the determination of some of the organized sectors to say that yes, they produce these items and that we should exclude those items from foreign exchange we are reviewing that list and we may in due course include more items products that can be produced in Nigeria in the list of items that will be excluded from foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign exchange market,” he stated

  • CBN’s restrictive forex policy stays, says Emefiele

    CBN’s restrictive forex policy stays, says Emefiele

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to deny importers access to foreign exchange (forex) to bring in goods which can be produced locally, its Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said.

    Emefiele, who made this known in Lima, Peru, said  the policy was not up for review.

    The apex bank has identified about 41 items which it denied eligibility to access forex  from the its interbank window.

    The CBN chief, while briefing with reporters from Nigeria at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/the World Bank Group meetings, on the outcome of the  Nigerian delegation’s engagement at the event, said contrary to insinuations, the regulator has not banned any goods from being imported.

    “We have not banned any items. What we just did was to exclude them from accessing foreign exchange; items that can be produced in the country. We think that because of the problems we’ve had, the drop in commodity prices and revenue accruing to the nation, and because we know that these items have been produced in large quantities in this country in the past, that provision still stands. The CBN is not reconsidering the ban, the exclusion still stands,” he stressed.

    The apex bank’s  chief said since the policy has been in force, he has been prompted from various quarters to even elongate the ‘excluding items’ list, adding that he however said the CBN would confine itself to the items presently in the restriction basket.

    He said: “The Central Bank has at different fora, even received the list of additional items which some section think should be included from receiving foreign exchange, but the CBN has for now limited the options to the existing ones.”

    In defending the apex bank’s stance, Emefiele argued that if there’s global economic slowdown which has affected the growth and resilience of emerging and frontier markets, including Nigeria, and there is a drop in  revenue receipts which has  impacted negatively on everyone, “there’s need for the regulator to intervene to restore stability in the exchange rate regime, look for ingenuous ways of increasing the sources of foreign exchange, such as encouraging exporters to repatriate their proceeds and make more foreign exchange available to the real sector so as to grow the economy.”

    He said the reforms that commenced about two years ago, with respect to economic diversification and taxation, will be vigorously pursued with a view to increasing government’s revenue base.

    He said since about two years ago, even before government started the reforms, focusing on how to increase the country’s revenue base has been on the front burner. He said the collaboration with Mckinze (a foreign Accounting Tax Consultant), resulted in the increase of revenue by about N75billion last year, adding that  N150billion revenue target is being expected from this engagement, this year.

    Emefiele, who spoke on a wide range of issues, said investors are exiting from frontier and emerging markets on account of the uncertainty and insecurity that pervade the markets, saying that in the last quarter of this year alone, about $48billion capital outflows has been recorded in these markets. He said investors are pulling funds out and are looking to  more stable and safe zones  to invest.

    “This is why we are saying that we should be nationalistic in our approach; that we have to carry our cross by ourselves,” he said. He said  there is need to set priorities by making  sure that “foreign exchange is made available to only those who are importing essential raw materials and goods we know cannot be produced within the country. That is the only way we can conserve our foreign exchange.”

    He said the CBN will continue to intervene in the foreign exchange market  and  ensure that forex is made available to meet the import needs of our people.

    The CBN chief said it is in this respect that the apex bank is appealing to exporters to make available their export proceeds to further boost available foreign exchange.

  • Naira priced appropriately, says Emefiele

    Naira priced appropriately, says Emefiele

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele yesterday said the naira is “appropriately priced” and the apex bank does not plan any adjustments for the time being.

    “At this time…the currency is appropriately priced,” Emefiele told a conference in London.

    Africa’s largest oil producer has restricted imports since June to offset a fall in vital oil revenues which has battered public finances and the nationals currency.

    The naira has an official exchange rate peg of 196.95 per dollar but has traded weaker than that in parallel markets.

  • Nigeria’s economy may slip into recession, CBN warns

    Nigeria’s economy may slip into recession, CBN warns

    From the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday came a warning shot on the economy: Nigeria risks sliding into recession next year.

    The apex bank also hinted that the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) might affect the country’s economic growth.

    Speaking yesterday at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja , CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele lamented that with “two consecutive quarters of slow growth, the economy could slip into recession in 2016 if proactive steps are not taken to revive growth in key sectors of the economy.”

    Emefiele added: “The overall economic environment remains fragile. The economy further slowed in the second quarter of the year, making it the second consecutive quarterly less-than-expected performance.”

    In the face of the prevailing circumstances, the MPC advocated that a “synergy between monetary and fiscal policies remains the most potent option to sustainable growth.”

    The committee specifically “noted that liquidity withdrawals from the implementation of the TSA, elongation of the tenure of state government loans as well as loans to the oil and gas sectors could aggravate the liquidity conditions in the banks and impair their financial intermediation roles, thus affecting the economic growth, unless some actions are immediately taken to ease liquidity conditions in the market.”

    Emefiele added that despite the TSA, “banking system liquidity ratio remains moderate, consequently committee advised on the urgent imperative for banks to aggressively support the efforts of government at job creation by channeling available liquidity into target growth enhancing sectors of the economy such as agriculture and manufacturing, this is with a view to promoting employment creation through conscious efforts aimed at directing lending to the growth enhancing sectors of the economy.”

    The Committee considered that “the Bank (CBN) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) must strive to reverse the slowing GDP trajectory by actively staking up their efforts at catalyzing economy with substantial new loans to the target sectors earlier highlighted.”

    The committee also expressed concerns “that growth had come under sever strains arising from private and public expenditure in particular. It noted the impact of non-payment of salaries at the state and local government levels as a key dampening factor on domestic demands.”

    The CBN governor said year on year headline inflation continued to trend upward while month on month measures moderated.

    According to him, despite demand, the foreign exchange market “remains significant as oil prices continue to decline. Arising from this development there were indications that some of the banking sector performance indicators could be stressed if conditions worsen further.”

    The committee observed that the impact of the persistent decline in global crude oil prices on the fiscal position of government continues to reflect in rising credit to government.

    Emefiele said the committee also noted that the initial market reaction to the decision by JP Morgan to exclude the country from its government bond index for emerging markets “has largely dissipated as yields soon adjusted to their pre-announcement levels” but warned that “there may be second round effects over the next two months as the economy adjusts to that decision.”

    [ad id=”403656″]The committee reiterated its unwavering commitment to the Naira and exchange rate stability despite the pressures stressing that it is “mindful of the possibility of diversion of any extra liquidity to the foreign exchange market.”

    As a result of this development, the CBN was urged to “closely monitor the nature and sources of demand pressure in the foreign exchange market to ensure that funds are not diverted to demands for foreign exchange but applied to specific growth enhancing asset creation and lending by the banks.”

    It further noted that sectors like agriculture, MSMEs are sectors for rapid generation of productive employment and wealth creation as a result these sectors “must therefore be painstakingly encouraged.”

    The CBN governor stated that gross official reserves decreased modestly from US$31.20 billion at end-July 2015 to $30.63 billion on September 17, 2015. Based on this, the Committee underscored the imperative of growing and protecting the country’s foreign reserves and building fiscal buffers in the process of strengthening confidence in the economy which is essential for promoting growth and stability.

    Overall the MPC expressed optimism that business confidence will continue to be improved upon as the government continues to unfold its economic plans noting that “in addition, some of the reassuring measures of the administration including efforts aimed at resolving fiscal challenges at the sub-national levels and the fight against corruption and improved business environment will unlock investments.”

    At the end of the MPC meeting and after considering what it called “the underlying fundamentals of the economy, particularly the declining output growth, rising unemployment, evolving international economic environment as well as the need to properly position the economy on a sustainable growth path”, the MPC decided to reduce the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) from 31 per cent to 25 per cent.

    By a unanimous vote, the MPC voted to retain the lending rate or Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13 per cent; retain the symmetric corridor of 200 basis points around the MPR; and retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.