By Ayo Yusuf
The National Economic Council on Thursday confirmed that the $3bn emergency loan-for-crude oil the Federal Government secured in August would be deployed to stabilise the naira.
The value of the nation’s currency has continued to fluctuate in the Investors & Exporters’ window, a situation made worse by the fact that the Naira recently hit N1000/$ in the parallel market.
Addressing State House correspondents after the 136th NEC meeting, which was held at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, said, “So, we are very confident and we still believe very strongly that with the plan that will come out and with all these items that have been listed on the improvement of revenue, the $3bn shall be useful to us down the line.”
On August 16, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited revealed that it secured an emergency $3bn crude repayment loan from AfreximBank to relieve pressure on the naira.
It said the loan would also enable it to settle taxes and royalties in advance.
It would also equip the Federal Government with the necessary dollar liquidity to stabilise the naira, with limited risk.
However, the naira has continued to fluctuate in the I&E window and worsened at the parallel market, hitting N1000/$ the week before last.
It recovered on Friday, September 22, 2023, after President Bola Tinubu nominated Olayemi Cardoso as CBN governor.
The naira moved upwards by N10 against the dollar in the black market, closing at N990/$1.
Asked when the intervention would kick in and if there would be a need for a supplementary budget, Governor Sule said “The $3bn was taken in order to stabilise the naira. As you have seen we have a new team at the CBN and the new team that is just coming in is asking for a little bit of time in order to work out the modalities.
“It is one thing to take the loan, it is another to plan the process of the stabilisation because it’s going to take a while.
“The CBN governor was just confirmed a few days back and he started rolling out his plans of what to do.”
On the need for a supplementary budget, the governor disclosed that, “Supplementary budget is a request that will come as a result of whatever is happening right now. I’m not sure there is a need for a supplementary budget immediately. So far, there have been no supplementary budget requests that were presented to NEC.”
