Jan 8 (Lagos) - The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, cash injection into the nation’s foreign exchange market rose by 118 percent to about USD 48 billion in 2018 from USD 22 billion in 2017.
The country's agriculture Policy is failing in a big way at the moment with most rice in the country coming through open borders from the west, east and North. Only re-bagging of smuggled rice is actually taking place in Nigeria. This is the reality from the ground level and probably not what they want you to believe. Nigeria is still spending billions on rice importation only that the Dollars are coming from the parallel market. This is a dangerous situation for economy.
The moment CBN withdraws these forex interventions as a result of dip in crude oil prices, we will have another devaluation of the Naira and possibly another recession.
That is why it is critical that Nigeria's agriculture Policy starts working so when the crude oil prices fall the country can access foreign exchange from Agriculture.
At the moment the economy is totally reliant on global crude oil prices and any disruptions in Niger Delta will expose the economy in an election year.
No surprise that the stock market fell 0.78% today in Lagos when stock markets across the world rallied sharply.
reporting for easykobo.com on Monday, January 8 2018 from Lagos, Nigeria