President Bola Tinubu has pledged to honor the country’s foreign exchange obligations of $13 billion in an effort to ease foreign exchange illiquidity.
This significant commitment was announced at the 29th edition of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG).
The issue at hand revolves around forward contracts initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which promised Nigerian businesses a fixed amount of dollars at predetermined prices.
However, since February 2023, the CBN has been unable to fulfill these promises, leading to a backlog of approximately $3 billion in owed payments to local businesses and another $10 billion in obligations to foreign businesses.
This situation has strained confidence among foreign investors and the broader international community, potentially deterring future investments in the Nigerian economy.
Speaking on the situation President Tinubu said: “The private sector is encouraged to bring their ideas, leadership, and capital to build a hopeful future. I am confident that by working closely with all of you in the private sector, financing our $3 trillion National Infrastructure Stock can be achieved in 10 years and not in 300 years.
“Building megacities in every geopolitical zone of the size and scale of Lagos must not take us another six decades. We can do it in one decade. A fully networked and connected Nigeria by rail, gas, fibre optics and road network can be constructed in less than 20 years. Establishing thriving Industrial zones in every part of Nigeria is possible before 2030.”
On the economy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said “by January 2024, the new student loan programme and consumer credit schemes will have come into effect. New and affordable homes will also be built at a record pace. We have all felt the pain of these reforms; soon, we shall begin to reap the rewards. It is my hope that this Summit will deliberate and proffer yet more solutions to complement the programmes mentioned above.”