Nigerians’ penchant for foreign goods has continued to put pressure on the nation’s external reserves and the exchange rate. In the last four months – April to August- a total of $14.95 billion left the shores of Nigeria as payments made by Central Bank of Nigeria on behalf of the public. Of this amount, cash sales to Bureaux de Change, where those who purchase foreign exchange in small quantity buy from, amounted to $2.2 billion while letters of credit for direct importation amounted to $157.5 million.

Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN will resist pressure to devalue the naira since it retains ample funds to defend the currency, its spokesman, Ugochukwu Okoroafor has said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, yesterday, said it will resist pressure to devalue the naira since it retains ample funds to defend the currency.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday compelled banks to buy dollars at N160.5 per dollar, in a bid to halt the four day depreciation of the naira at the interbank foreign exchange market. The unusual intervention forced the interbank exchange rate to N162.05 per dollar on Friday from N163.7 per dollar on Thursday, translating to 165 kobo appreciation for the naira.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while inspecting a cold rolling mill facility in Ilorin last week was reported to have said that the current regime of interest rates in the country was too high for the productive sector of the economy. She described the 20 percent lending rate being charged by commercial banks on loans obtained by industries as outrageous.

In view of the apparently ‘boundless’ funds at the disposal of Nigeria’s Central Bank for its independent interventions, observers, including the National Assembly have frowned at the proprietary and the shrouded protocol surrounding the values and the choice of beneficiaries of the apex bank’s bonanza.

FOLLOWING the challenges of access to funds for the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has targeted October 2014 to test-run the registry of movable collaterals.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) contributed about 46.54 per cent to country’s GDP in 2012. Specifically, Nigeria had about 17.6 million MSMEs employing about 32.4 million people in the year under review.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Saturday said it would introduce  reforms which would ensure that banks adhere strictly to competence in their operations.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s withdrawal of 50 per cent of government funds from commercial banks, is good for the economy, says Leonard Dilkon, former Chairman, House Committee on Finance.

Eighteen months after the introduction of the cashless policy, cash is still used to settle 83 per cent of retail transactions across the country. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has continued its enlightenment campaign on the policy with an interactive session with stakeholders in Awka, Anambra State.

ABUJA—There appears to be a new latitude for entrepreneurs in the country as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, launched a N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, fund to provide the much needed capital for that sub-sector of the economy.

Currency notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in the denominations of N200, N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 are currently not readily available on demand in banks in the Lagos area. Even the currency notes in denominations of N500 and N1000 given out by the banks are not clean and do not have a few new notes in the packs as has been the practice in the past.

Oil revenue accounted for 86.67 per cent of gross federally-collected revenue from January to June 2013, as the Federal Government earned a total of N3.809 trillion from oil within the period.

•Interbank rates rise by 74%
Governments’ deposits and borrowing undermine competiveness of banks and corrupt the public sector in Nigeria.