CBN JUSTIFIES REASON FOR FLOATING THE NAIRA

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, has said his leadership made the decisive move to float the Naira in the foreign exchange market to bring the official exchange rate closer to market reality.

Cardoso made the disclosure while addressing members of the Harvard Club of Nigeria in Lagos at the weekend on the topic, Leadership in Challenging Times: Restoring Credibility, Building Trust, and Containing Inflation.

He explained that the floatation policy was not primarily introduced to depreciate the Naira but to tackle the gap between official and parallel rates, which fostered arbitrage and speculation, undermining confidence in the market.

 Cardoso said controlling inflation remains the apex bank’s primary goal, stressing that despite not being able to achieve its target yet, CBN’s recent declines announced by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS in July and August 2024 indicates that the CBN is progressing positively.