Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Olayemi Cardoso yesterday affirmed that the Federal Government is prepared to deploy all tools to rein in inflation.
The CBN, Cardoso said, is prepared to use whatever “tools at our disposal” to manage inflation.
Annual inflation in Africa’s most populous country accelerated in September for the first time in three months, reaching 32.70 per cent, spurred by higher food and energy costs, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Price pressures have been exacerbated by the government’s decision to stop the payment of subsidies on petrol and electricity to float the naira.
Cardoso told the FT Africa Summit in London that while he expected headline inflation to moderate in the coming months, food inflation was “proving stickier’ assuring that the apex bank was working closely with the government to address the issue.
Nigeria must not slack in its reform drive as it is beginning to attract ‘growing and serious interest’ from foreign investors, Cardoso said, citing recent visits to the country by Citigroup Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jane Fraser and JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon.
“There’s an enormous amount of interest now, recognizing the fact that the Nigerian currency is relatively moderated and has made our economy a lot more competitive,” he said.
The naira is worth only a quarter of its value when Tinubu took office, while fuel prices are five times higher.
Cardoso said measures introduced by the CBN to restore investors’ confidence were working and that there were now “minimal” complaints about lack of access to foreign exchange (forex) compared to “before, when only a handful of people could get it”.
“Now, the market is a lot deeper… and it (forex) is available,” he said.
Gross forex reserves now stand above $40 billion and Cardoso said that the apex bank would share details about the net reserves regularly from early 2025 in the interests of greater transparency.
He said that economic growth might remain moderate next year, in line with a World Bank estimate for 2025 of around 3.6 per cent, up slightly from an expected 3.3per cent this year.
“With the reforms that are being taken right now, it will put Nigeria in a far better position to see the increase on the growth side,” the CBN boss said.
