The Nigerian stock exchange (NSE) has become the worst performing stock exchange in Africa, and the third worst performing in the world, after China and Saudi Arabia.
After losing 1.2 trillion in the first eight trading days of 2016, Nigeria has only lost less than China and Saudi Arabia in the entire world.
Speaking at the NSE outlook for 2016 media conference, Oscar Onyema, chairman of the NSE, said he would have been bothered if Nigeria was not losing the way it was, adding that the NSE was reflecting the state of the economy.
Onyema, said the bourse could fund the deficit of the 2016 budget,revealing that the stock had notified the government of the problems with the economy.
Advertisement
“The exchange has informed the government that there is a problem, the government knows that there is a problem, I think that the way you approach the solution to a problem is multifaceted and we do not want to have any kneejerk reaction,” he said.
“If you look at what happen in China the government intervene and it did not succeed, in fact it created more panic, so we have to be careful in what we are asking for, there has to be appropriate analysis as to the best way to address fundamental issue, the market has to continue reflecting in what is going on in the economy
“Investors are voting with their monies, with the sell-down we’ve seen, people are trying to understand what the actual impact of this new policies that have just been rolled out.”
Advertisement
He added that although the market was overreacting, the government needs to clarify its policies to help investors make informed decisions.
“I think the market is overreacting and as people who take into full consideration, the potential impact, I think that we’d see some more pressure.
“People are also looking at our domestic issues, the fact is that market activity is still or was still 45 to 60 percent is driven by foreign investors, that have to convert money to naira in order to make investments.
“You’re going to see the impact if they do not feel that there’s credibility in the exchange rate if they have to make the conversion. We think that with government giving more clarity around the various policies that are coming out, people would have more data point for making investment decisions.
Advertisement
“Giving much clarity around the various policies that are coming out, people will have more data point for making investment decision.”
4 comments
Please this government should pay attention to the Nigerian collapsing economy. Fighting corruption is not an economic policy and any responsible government will pay attention to the plight of her citizenry.
Dear Tony, nobody will continue to pour oil into a jar which is leaking and which people freely come to steal from. No. It is only sensible to stop pouring, plug the leakages and secure the jar before one can continue pouring oil into the jar. It is also expedient to catch the thieves and lock them up so they won’t come back to steal more. That also discourages potential thieves!… Worry not – we shall all enjoy soon:)
Oga Bunmi, Of what use fighting presume enemies wrongly (Chasing 2% of so called thieves while 98% of the thieves are dinning with you and have sat on vantage point mocking the 2&). By the way, have you seen the budget that they are trying so hard to modify? Virtually all the projects that GEJ completed or were about 90& completed were duplicated with billions of Naira allocated.
Is Nigeria really the most corrupt nation? NO! Some of the most corrupt nations are advancing, but you are advising buhari to shutdown Nigeria because of his funny fight against corruption. Presently, Nigeria’s economy is mostly what it is because of so much confusion by the buhari’s administration, buhari took 6 months to get his minister all in the name of looking for angels and at the end got some of of the most corrupt ex-governors, expired old cargos as miniisters. He has been running the monetary policies like a typical dictator (thank GOD he didn’t go through with his initial plan to change Nigeria’s currency – Naira would have been the first new currency that became an instant worthless paper).
I hope your likes are taking stock of how much is being lost every business day with buhari unclear economy policies.
Dr Bunmi, if you have caught the propaganda war then you are free to remain clueless about how this govt is running the country aground. Is it the war against corruption that is behind the flip flop of CBN policy on FX? If the previous govt stole all the money, yet Nigerians were doing business and making a living, is it not better than these ‘Angels’ who are starving us to death and causing so much damage to the economy by a clueless economic team? The Minister of Finance is a rookie, the President does not know that in 2016, there is no Deutsch Mark or French Francs, yet he is dictating economic policies to the CBN and Finance Ministry. They cannot even put a budget together! They will continue to hide their incompetence under the guise of fighting corruption!