CBN Governor Blasts TSA Critics

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has lambasted banking industry operators who claimed that the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) have stifled their operations.

Mr Emefiele rather affirmed that TSA was one of the best and boldest decisions any administration in the country had so far taken.

He made this disclosure while delivering a lecture at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Plateau State, at the weekend.

According to him, the impression that the TSA was stifling banks was created to draw unnecessary sympathy and “it is unfortunate that this is the way the banks have interpreted it.

Perhaps refuting the claims that TSA implementation affected banks’ ability to give credit, he queried: “When I was in the bank, how much loan did I give you as a Small and Medium-sized enterprise?”

He added: “CBN has always tried to act in good faith, with the best available information and in cognisance of current economic conditions, to pursue the goals of price and financial system stability, as well as catalyse job creation and inclusive growth in the country.

“When you have policies that people are praising, that means such policies are not really good, because the people praising the policies know that they can circumvent them. But if people criticise your policies, especially in Nigeria, such policies are good; the people criticise them because they know that they cannot circumvent them.

“We should remain resolutely committed to the course and be motivated by the achievability of our desire to strengthen the economic fundamentals.”

Speaking on the economic recession, the CBN boss urged Nigerians to come to realities of the times, especially regarding the issues that brought the nation to the unsavoury development.

He said the situation was not a normal one and presently sweeping across the globe, hence hard choices are required to turn it around.

Mr Emefiele said will deploy appropriate monetary policy tools in the fight for survival to engender inclusive growth and pursuit of self-sufficiency by bolstering productive capacity in the country.