Currency management necessary to remove arbitrage, corruption, says Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu says currency management in the country is necessary to remove the artificial element of the value of the naira.

Tinubu spoke on Sunday during the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia.

He said managing the currency is also critical in expunging corruption in the country.

In June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) liberalised the country’s foreign exchange (FX) system, announcing the unification of all segments of the FX market into the investors and exporters (I&E) window.

The move was part of a series of policies to ensure economic recovery by the incumbent government.

However, on October 12, 2023, the CBN said it would boost liquidity in the market by intervening “from time to time”.

“We were able to partition the economic drawback and the fallout of the subsidy removal,” Tinubu said.

“Equally, it engendered transparency, accountability, and physical discipline for the country and that, to me, is more important to focus on what direction we should go and we pursue that rigorously.

“The currency management was necessary, equally, to remove the artificial element of value in our currency. Let our local currency find its level and compete with the rest of the world currency and remove arbitrage, corruption, and opaqueness.

“That we did. At the same time, that’s a true engine problem in a very turbulent situation for the government.

“But we are able to manage that turbulence because we prepared for inclusivity in governance and rapid communication with the public to really see what is necessary and what we must do.”

Speaking on collaboration and inclusiveness, Tinubu said capital formation is necessary to drive the economy, especially in areas like agriculture, food security, innovation, and technology advancement, and should involve everyone in the world, stressing that no one must be left behind.