Economy
CBN Determined to Make Nigerian Economy Very Robust—Emefiele
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is leading the drive towards diversifying the nation’s economy away from oil through its numerous interventions.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, said this at the 33rd Seminar organised by CBN for the Finance Correspondents and Business Editors on Saturday in Lagos. The conference was held simultaneously in Lagos and Abuja and themed Policy Options for Economic Diversification: Thinking Outside the Crude Oil Box.
Mr Emefiele said the quest for building a robust economy had remained the major component of the monetary policy.
According to him, Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades.
He, therefore, said there was a need to build a broad-based and well-diversified economy that would guarantee overall macroeconomic stability.
“The quest for building a more sophisticated economy and agricultural, micro, small, and medium enterprises, industrial and manufacturing concerns have become the major component of our monetary policy.
“Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades, and the sustained decline in crude oil production has continued to negatively undermine the performance of the economy.
“Thus, there is the urgent need for a conscientious effort to diversify to other non-oil sectors,” Mr Emefiele said.
The CBN chief, represented by the Director of Corporate Communication Department, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, said the apex bank had supported non-oil sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, education, power and aviation, and other allied economic value chains.
He said Nigeria had become a rice exporting country as the bank’s flagship Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) had changed the long-standing dependence on imported rice.
He said the CBN had through its Agriculture Credit Scheme, supported commercial farmers in the country in different value chains including oil palm, cotton, and cocoa, among others.
He said the implementation of 44 items prohibited from foreign exchange for import had revealed that the bank’s continued support to the manufacturing sector and MSMEs was yielding great results.
He also said the apex bank’s health sector intervention was beginning to reduce healthcare tourism, which according to him, was helping to conserve the country’s foreign exchange and improve the well-being of Nigerians.
Similarly, Emefiele stated that the new 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity, was beginning to yield quality results.
He also said the RT200 FX initiative designed to take advantage of Nigeria’s large domestic production to other regional markets, was targeted at increasing foreign exchange inflows to the economy and supporting exchange rate stability.
On digitalisation across all sectors, specifically in entrenching a resilient payments system, Emefiele said the bank had over the years established strategic initiatives and policies in the financial sector.
He named the strategies as the Payments System Vision 2020 (2007), National Financial Inclusion Strategy (2012 2018 ), Cash-less Policy (2012), Framework for Regulatory Sandbox Operations (2018 2021) Open Banking Initiative (2021), among others.
The apex bank governor said, as a result, the Nigerian payment ecosystem had witnessed tremendous improvements over the years.
He said, “To consolidate its efforts towards engendering a digital economy, the bank deployed the eNaira, Africa’s first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in preparation for the payment landscape if the future given the potential benefits that will accrue to a digital economy.”
By Dipo Olowookere
About $197.71 million has been injected into the foreign exchange (FX) market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to boost liquidity.
This intervention by the apex bank is expected to strengthen the Naira in the different segments of the forex market after coming under pressure in the past few days as a result of the new import tariffs imposed on countries, including Nigeria, by the President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump.
Business Post reports that on Friday, the Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 1.45 per cent or N22.49 to settle at N1,573.23/$1 versus Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,550.74/$1, and in the parallel market, it lost N10 to sell for N1,570/$1 compared with the N1,560/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.
To ease the pressure on the domestic currency, the central bank sold fresh $197.71 million to authorised FX traders between Thursday and Friday.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has noted recent movements in the foreign exchange market between April 3 and 4, 2025, reflecting broader global macroeconomic shifts currently affecting several emerging markets and developing economies.
“These developments were as a result of the recent announcement of new import tariffs by the United States government on imports from several economies, which has triggered a period of adjustment across global markets.
“Crude oil prices have also weakened – declining by over 12% to approximately $65.50 per barrel – presenting new dynamics for oil-exporting countries such as Nigeria.
“In line with its commitment to ensuring adequate liquidity and supporting orderly market functioning, the CBN facilitated market activity on Friday, April 4, 2025, with the provision of $197.71 million through sales to authorised dealers.
“This measured step aligns with the Bank’s broader objective of fostering a stable, transparent, and efficient foreign exchange market.
“The CBN continues to monitor global and domestic market conditions and remains confident in the resilience of Nigeria’s foreign exchange framework, which is designed to adjust appropriately to evolving fundamentals.
“All authorised dealers are reminded to adhere strictly to the principles outlined in the Nigeria FX Market Code and to uphold the highest standards in their dealings with clients and market counterparties,” a notice from the Director of Financial Markets Department at the CBN, Ms Omolara Omotunde Duke, said.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that the total public debt stock of Nigeria increased by 48.58 per cent or N47.32 trillion to N144.67 trillion ($94.23 billion) as of December 31, 2024, from N97.34 trillion ($108.23 billion) in the preceding year.
In a report released on Friday, the agency disclosed that the rise in the domestic and foreign debts was due to the borrowing of funds by the government in the period under review.
Business Post reports that external debt of the total debt accounted for 48.59 per cent at N70.29 trillion ($45.78 billion), while the domestic component was 51.41 per cent at N74.38 trillion ($48.45 billion).
A breakdown showed that for the total foreign borrowings, the federal government accounted for 43.49 per cent at N62.92 trillion ($40.98 billion), while the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for 5.10 per cent at N7.37 trillion ($4.80 billion).
As for the domestic debt, the federal government contributed 48.67 per cent at (N70.41 trillion ($45.86 billion) and the states and the FCT contributed 2.74 per cent at N3.97 trillion ($2.59 billion).
Analysis showed that in 2023, the external debt was N38.22 trillion ($42.50 billion) before rising in one year by 83.89 per cent to N70.29 trillion ($45.78 billion) in December 2024, while the local debt stood at N59.12 trillion ($65.73 billion) as of December 2023 before jumping by 25.77 per cent in 12 months to N74.38 trillion ($48.44 billion).
Since the current administration of Mr Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, it has sourced funds from local and external sources through treasury bills, Naira-denominated and Dollar-denominated bonds to finance its budget deficits.
However, much has been done to cut down Nigeria’s revenue-to-debt service ratio to 65 per cent from 97 per cent, according to Mr Tinubu in November 2024.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended Friday’s trading session lower with a marginal decline of 0.01 per cent as a result of continued market volatility.
Customs Street was down during the last trading session of the week despite bargain-hunting activities in the banking and industrial goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.51 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that profit-taking in the other sectors contributed to the downfall of the local bourse yesterday, with the insurance index weakening by 3.21 per cent.
Further, the energy counter went down by 0.50 per cent, and the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.24 per cent, while the commodity industry closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 13.37 points to 105,511.89 points from 105,525.26 points and the market capitalisation declined by N8 billion to settle at N66.147 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N66.155 trillion.
A total of 348.3 million shares worth N8.1 billion exchanged hands in 11,444 deals on Friday compared with the 397.1 million shares valued at N8.7 billion traded in 13,667 deals a day earlier, implying a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.29 per cent, 6.90 per cent, and 16.27 per cent, respectively.
The activity log was led by UBA with the sale of 26.3 million stocks for N972.3 million, United Capital traded 25.6 million shares valued at N391.5 million, FCMB exchanged 24.2 million equities worth N211.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.9 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and Fidelity Bank traded 22.6 million stocks worth N441.7 million.
Investor sentiment remained bearish yesterday after the NGX finished with 19 price gainers and 29 price losers, showing a negative market breadth index.
Lasaco Assurance and AXA Mansard were the worst-performing equities with a decline of 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.34, and N8.64 apiece, May and Baker decreased by 8.72 per cent to N7.85, Guinea Insurance crashed by 8.70 per cent to 63 Kobo, and FTN Cocoa lost 6.43 per cent to end at N1.60.
However, Learn Africa and Livestock Feeds closed as the best-performing stocks after they gained 10.00 per cent each to quote at N3.30, and N7.92, respectively, VFD Group soared by 9.83 per cent to N57.00, Union Dicon expanded by 9.43 per cent to N5.80, and NGX Group rose by 8.17 per cent to N32.45.
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