Cardoso Pledges Conducive Atmosphere for Foreign Investors
(Business Africa Digest-Following his confirmation as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso has said that the CBN will do all within its statutory functions to address identified distortions and ensure a conducive atmosphere for different categories of investors.
He gave the assurance in his office on Thursday, when a group of investors paid him a courtesy visit, noting that under his leadership, the new management team at the Bank will do its best to tackle the impediments to liquidity in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.
While disclosing plans to formally unveil his agenda for the monetary and financial sector in the days ahead, Mr. Cardoso stressed the importance of credibility and transparency in implementing the Bank’s monetary policy.
To achieve this, he said the Bank would focus on strengthening its data-gathering system to ensure that only verifiable data will be relied upon for evidence-based decisions. According to him, the CBN would also adhere to rules that are known, acceptable and transparent for the conduct of monetary policy.
Speaking further on liquidity management, he said his team had a short-term goal of addressing structural issues within the financial system that gave rise to the liquidity challenge in the first instance.
On the relationship between the monetary and fiscal authorities, the new CBN Governor said there would continue to be consensus between both authorities to harmonise their positions on the interest rate and inflation. He, however, said the Bank would remain open to different views in its push for greater transparency.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cardoso said the Bank would only provide strategic policy support to critical sectors of the economy while allowing experts to take charge of such critical sectors, given that the expertise lies within other relevant agencies.
In their remarks, the investors, led by Mrs. Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, said they were at the CBN to discuss ways of strengthening collaboration to boost foreign investment in Nigeria. The group also emphasized issues around the Bank’s independence and the need to grow the country’s foreign exchange reserve, among other issues.
