Emefiele
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has expressed optimisms that Nigeria will come out of the current economy recession the fourth quarter of this year.
His said this could be only possible when the result of the various measures put in place by the Federal Government and the monetary authorities become manifest.
According to him, one of such result is the decision of the CBN to establish a bridge fund for the government to utilise to stimulate the economy whenever there is a need for it.
The apex bank boss had earlier warned Nigerians to stop blaming the current economic mess on President Muhammadu Buari.
Emefiele, who spoke to media executives in Lagos on Saturday, said, “We are already in the valley, the only direction is to go up the hill and the government is doing everything possible to ensure that we move up the hill. I am optimistic that based on the actions being taken by the monetary and fiscal authorities, the fourth quarter results will show evidence that we have started to move out of the recession.
“The worst is over. The Nigerian economy is on the path of recovery and growth. So, please if you are a bystander or sideliner, you are losing; join the train now before it leaves the station.”
Continuing, the CBN boss said “Both the monetary and fiscal authorities are working together and that is why you can see a situation where today, even when we have revenue shortage or deficit, the monetary authority is trying to bridge the gap.
“We said to the fiscal authority that we can give you a bridge to go ahead and spend, and when you obtain the foreign loan that you are negotiating, or when your revenue improve, you can repay the bridge that we have created for you in order to stimulate spending. That is a practical case of collaboration between the monetary and fiscal authorities.”
He appealed pointed out that the release of another batch of N350bn by the Ministry of Finance to stimulate the economy was another measure taken by the government to get the nation out of recession.
He stated, “I wasn’t optimistic that the FDI would come initially, but with what we have seen in three months, almost $1bn, I feel very confident that there will be more inflow into the system and more and more people will have foreign exchange available for them to do their business.
“That will improve industrial capacity. The rate may be high now, but there’s high possibility that with more availability of foreign exchange, the rate will come down. I am very optimistic that a lot of positive things will happen.
“I have talked about how the fiscal authority is trying to push in liquidity to stimulate consumption, demand consumption expenditure; and of course, when consumer consumption is stimulated, demand for goods will go up and if the demand goes up, the industrial capacity will improve.
“If we maintain a steady course in the way we are going, and if all those who have foreign exchange repatriate them, more and more people will have foreign exchange to do their business that will improve industrial capacity,” he stated.
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