Emefiele foresees brighter future, says Nigeria’ll exit recession in Q3

Godwin Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),  has declared that Nigeria will exit economic recession by the end of the third quarter of 2017,

Emefiele also said that the nation’s foreign reserve stands at over $31billion, which according to him provides the nation the much needed firepower or ammunition to be able to defend the currency.
The CBN boss who spoke with journalists after a closed door session with the leadership of the Senate on Tuesday, was upbeat that with the appreciation of the country’s foreign reserve, Nigeria stands a chance of exiting economic recession latest by the end of third quarter of this year.

“We are very much optimistic that by the end of the second quarter very latest third quarter we should be out of recession that we are in right now.

“Our foreign reserve stands at above $31 billion and that provides us enough of firepower or ammunition to be able to defend the currency and we will do so with all intensity to ensure that foreign exchange is procured by everybody. You want to import raw materials, you will get foreign exchange, you want to import plant and equipment you will get foreign exchange, you want to pay school fees or you are a small business that wants to buy foreign exchange to import your small items you will procure foreign exchange,” he stated.

Nigeria’s economy slid into recession after negative growth in the first two quarters of 2016.

Emefiele said the intervention of the CBN in the foreign exchange market has led to appreciation of the naira against the dollar.

The intervention, he said, was meant to encourage foreign investors to get involved in the foreign exchange market.

He said: “It is the market or window that is opened for them to inflow their foreign exchange and come into the market on what we called a willing buyer, willing seller basis in which case there will be no form of any price intervention by anybody and indeed even including the Central Bank.

“Indeed with the kind of firepower that we have we are also going to play in that market to ensure that as the prices move on based on the managed float regime that we run, we should be able to control the price based on willing buyer and willing seller basis,” he added.