President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said the naira will not be further devalued, pointing out that any further devaluation will negatively affect the economy.
The global fall in crude oil prices is still biting hard on the country and the Central Bank has imposed increasingly strict foreign exchange rules to save the country reserves and avoid what would be the third devaluation in a year.
In July, the naira fell to as low as 242 per dollar on the parallel market against the official rate of 197.
It has lost around 15 percent against the dollar over the past year with an official devaluation in November and a de facto one in February.
“I don’t think it is healthy for us to have the naira devalued further,” Reuters quoted Buhari as saying in an interview with France 24.
“That’s why we are getting the central bank to make modifications in terms of making foreign exchange available to essential services, industries, spare parts, essential raw materials and so on. But things like toothpicks and rice, Nigeria can produce enough of those,” he said.
As part of measures to keep the economy running and to the chagrin of investors, the country’s apex bank restricted access to foreign exchange for the import of 41 items ranging from rice and toothpicks to steel products and glass.
