Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has advised the federal government to stabilise the naira at its true market value.
Moghalu spoke in a statement on Tuesday.
On April 15, naira traded at N1,100/$ in the parallel market, however, as of April 29, the local currency has depreciated to N1,350 per dollar.
At the official window, the naira depreciated from N1,136.04/$ to N1,419.11 against the dollar within the same period.
Commenting on the development, Moghalu said the naira “tanking back down to the 1,400s to $1 demonstrates what some of us have been saying”.
“Seeking a falsely ‘strong’ currency when the fundamentals are out of whack is shadow chasing. The focus should be on the stability of the exchange rate, not a populist exchange rate and premature declarations of ‘best performing currency’,” he said.
“Reports that there are now multiple exchange rates to BDCs, Customs, and NAFEX are also worrying.
“It’s not yet uhuru. Let us stabilise the naira at whatever is its true market value and then pivot to the real issues.”
