Nigeria Lacks Sufficient Reserves To Tackle FX Demands In The MarketPlace, Says Economist Esili Eigbe

The Director of Escap Management and Economist, Esili Eigbe has said Nigeria as a nation lacks sufficient reserves to tackle the demands of FX in the market place.

Eigbe said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, while shedding light on the ongoing challenges faced by the nation in managing its currency and economic stability.

He emphasized that, despite the government’s commitment to implementing reforms aimed at resolving the FX issues, there appears to be a contradiction in their actions.

“I think it is very early and I think we don’t have sufficient reserves to tackle the demands or backlog of FX in the market place. A lot of reforms have taken place on the monetary side, in my opinion I guess the first steps in addressing the issue and potential inflation.

“So, I think there is no silver bullet. It is going to take time, years possibly, to manage the currency situation and also inflation. If you are looking for examples of countries where you have seen similar situations and how they have handled it, we will look at places like Argentina, Venezuela and so on and one lesson that Nigeria needs to learn from these countries is that you need to move very quickly to be ahead of the problem.

“I will suggest in context of President Tinubu’s discussion on Wednesday, I think it is important that Nigeria really begins to look at serious physical consolidations. There have been reforms but the body language of the government, in my opinion, speaks otherwise.”

He also called on the President to develop a plan to salvage the situation of the economy and put it on a path of freedom in the coming years.

“It will be a fair assumption to expect more suffering in the next couple of months, it could even be two years. Like I said, there is no silver bullet and we are going to have to take the pain for possibly two to three years and i think that what the president could come up with and say, Nigerians, it is going to be a tough two or three years.

“We need to put together a plan, a development plan for this country which I haven’t seen yet. If I were the president, this is an opportunity for me to just clean the slate and put Nigeria on a path and put forward a development plan that would get Nigeria to where it needs to be, perhaps, 30 years from now. He doesn’t need to be the one who completes the job but at least the guy who starts that process.”

Chioma Kalu

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