Exchange Rate Unification Will Instill Confidence In Nigeria Economy- FSDH Reports

A report by the First Securities Discount House (FSDH) Research has described the recent move by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to achieve exchange convergence a positive impact regulation, saying it would ensure clarity and improve market confidence in the economy.

The report also stated that the move would enable Nigeria to unlock funding from several multilateral organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and ease the pressure on the exchange rate in the medium term.

It further stated that the central bank’s current move towards a unified exchange rate was expected to ensure flexibility and market-determined rate, which is stated to a large extent would, reduce arbitrage, round-tripping, and could move the naira towards its fair value.

“However, exchange rate unification is not a sufficient factor in attracting significant capital into the country. What should follow the CBN’s recent actions, in our view, are a set of consistent forex policies that seek to improve market liquidity and prevent every form of forex arbitrage and unnecessary forex subsidies.

“The CBN will also need to clear forex backlogs to further instill confidence in the market. In February 2021, the IMF estimated backlogs at US$2 billion. We believe this will be done gradually,“ FSDH explained.

“The CBN’s move is expected to instill confidence in the market as foreign investors are more likely to participate in a less fragmented market that can be fairly predictable.

“Given this framework, the options available for the CBN include raising the interest rates to incentivize inflow of capital into the economy that may hurt economic recovery in subsequent quarters or relax capital control rules/restrictions and simultaneously increase market interventions to prevent significant depreciation of the naira that may result in external reserves depletion,” the report stated.

The report, which was titled “Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Policy Note- Navigating through the Tides of Uncertainty,” adding that: “As much as Nigeria needs effective management of foreign exchange and unification of exchange rate to boost confidence, the supply shortage of foreign exchange is still a major problem.

“Increasing foreign exchange supply from non-CBN sources is vital in maintaining exchange rate stability in the I&E window and reducing speculative activities.”

The report predicted that the CBN would be faced with, “policy trilemma” to explain Nigeria’s foreign exchange and monetary choices.

The ‘trilemma’ refers to the trade-offs a government faces when making crucial monetary policy decisions because only two out of the three objectives could be achieved at a time.

It added: “With COVID-19, Nigeria maintained the two objectives of having a fixed/managed official exchange rate and monetary autonomy at the expense of free movement of capital. This was evident in the capital controls and forex backlogs.

“The recent move by the CBN to adopt the I&E market rate as the official rate will enable the CBN to control interest rate while capital controls can be relaxed, but the exchange rate will have to be flexible.

“Whether the naira appreciates or depreciates will depend on the level of capital inflows and outflows, CBN’s involvement in the market and the external reserves position.

“This means the only way to maintain a stable exchange rate is to attract even more capital into the economy or intervene heavily in the forex market using the external reserves.”

It added that the planned issuance of Eurobond by the government would provide some relief in the market and boost external reserves in the short term.

“From the fiscal and trade perspective, Nigeria will need to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement to boost non-oil exports and increase forex inflows. Providing direct incentives for businesses to produce for exports, implementing port reforms as well as developing comprehensive industrial and trade strategies are important steps that the government must take.

“We believe that the Naira will settle around N430 per dollar in the latter part of 2021. Forex inflows are expected to also improve, especially when the Eurobond is issued, but increasing demand pressures from imports and other payments will continue to exert pressure on the rate,” FSDH stated.

FSDH further reported, “Our 2021 forecasts for key indicators include real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 1.3 percent, an average exchange rate of N430/$ and an inflation rate of 16.6 percent.”