Peterside Hits Emefiele, Says, Multiple Forex Policies Hurting Economy

Speaking at the Daily Trust Policy Dialogue in Abuja, with the theme, “Beyond Recession: Towards a Resilient Economy,” which had Emefiele in attendance, Peterside was very critical of what he regarded as the current administration’s “halfhearted policy in various areas, including the foreign exchange regime, downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry, the handling of the Niger Delta and particularly the Amnesty Programme and the foreign loan quest, among others”

“The CBN should accept that its foreign exchange and demand management policies have failed. The more restrictions they have placed on forex repatriation, the less likely it has become that badly needed forex inflows from portfolio investors, foreign direct investors and Nigerians will pick up.

“CBN has inadvertently created a siege mentality, thereby making privileged access to its forex allocations, which are reserved largely for the politically well-connected, the best investment game in town,” he said.

However, Emefiele countered by insisting that the nation’s foreign reserves were being depleted at an unprecedented rate, explaining that CBN’s policies represented measures taken to protect the interests of Nigerians.

Emefiele stated: “For us policy makers, we are faced with low oil prices with heavily depleted foreign reserves.  What can we do? We can only continue to prioritise our needs. Our priority today is Nigeria and Nigerian market and we will continue to do our best.

“With the limited resources at our disposal, we will continue to give forex to those that want to import raw materials that we cannot produce in the country.

“We will give emphasis to those that want to import plants and equipment that will help this country. We will give support to those who are going into agriculture, importing agric raw material and implements.

“I will say that some of the 11 points raised by Atedo Peterside are contestable but it is very important that we talk from the stand point of understanding of the reason why certain policy decisions were taken.

“Policies are not made in isolation, they are made because certain things have happened and with some objectives in mind with desire to ensure that those objectives are achieved.

“I will disagree with some of his points. But I think, it is very important that before we make conclusion, we should cast our minds back on why these policies were made rather than criticizing them.

“We will look at the points, some of them we will take. I will find time so that we can share why some of those policies were put in place.

“We love our country and we will not do anything wrong to our country. We are willing to dialogue and understand where challenges are coming from.

“Government is doing its best in the face of the global economic challenges. We will not head in the way of Venezuela and Zimbabwe. We will work together for Nigerians because we love our country.”