By SIMEON AKOJE
LAGOS- The Chief Executive Officer, Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, has urged the CBN to unify the multiple foreign exchange windows to enhance its liquidity and curb inflation.
Yusuf said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, on Thursday.
Yusuf said the apex bank should have a convergence in the foreign exchange market.
“Having a convergence in the foreign exchange market is imperative to attract foreign capital and enhance adequate liquidity.
“Then the domestic currency will be more stable and the foreign exchange demand triggering inflation will begin to dip,” he said.
He noted that the CBN could check inflation rate by reducing its ways and means of interventions in the economy.
“We cannot expect to fight rising inflation and the other hand expend trillions of Naira in ways and means.
“The authorities must stop funding fiscal deficit of the federal government through ways and means, if we are serious in checking the inflation rate,” he said.
Also, the former Executive Secretary, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, said the tiers of government should ensure to tackle food induced inflation by adopting modern agric practice.
“Enhancing farmers with improved seedlings, machineries and ensuring that there is relative peace in their domaine.
“ Particularly in the middlebelt of the country which is a food hub, so as not to disrupt food supplies,” he said.
Unegbu noted that the states should adopt recent innovations in preserving agric yield, so as to reduce post harvest losses.
He also said that the Federal Government must support the growth of domestic manufacturers by addressing some of their structural challenges.
“Associated challenges in the sector such as diesel could be subsidised to enable them operate at optimal levels.
“Then, the sector will begin to produce substituted imported goods, thereby boosting domestic capacity,” he said.
NAN reports that Nigeria’s inflation rate in the month of July rose to a 17-year high of 19.64 per cent.
This compares to 18.6 per cent recorded in the previous month of June.
The latest inflation data is according to the recently released Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for the month of July, by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The last time Nigeria’s inflation was above 19.64 per cent was in September 2005. (NAN)
