Manufacturers have identified deregulation, amnesty program as well as credit squeeze in the banking sector as the main forces that would influence the economy in 2010.

In the wake of the recent Central Bank’s pseudo liberalization of dollar supply to the foreign exchange market, naira rate tumbled from over N140=$1 to today’s rate of about N130=$1 in the black market, leaving a spread of just about N2 from the official rate.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, who recently met with the French business community in Paris, France, noted that the move is aimed at strengthening the state’s drive for investment and also engage in partnership with interested foreign developers that will facilitate bridging the housing gap in the country.

Across the industry and among bankers there is palpable fear, anxiety and apprehension. “Everybody is afraid”, said Tope, a staff of First Bank Olowu branch in Ikeja. “We hear the bank wants to sack again and it might be up to 1000 this time around”, she said adding that the problem is that we don’t even know the criteria. We have been asking what the criteria are but no answer.” “I have stopped worrying”, Chinyere said , “I won’t allow retrenchment fever kill me. I still have my certificate so I can still get job elsewhere.”

The performance of primary mortgage institutions (PMIs) in the discharge of their fundamental duty of providing of mortgage loans to Nigerians has been deemed woeful.