Soludo calls out on the Government to scrap multiple exchange rates

The former Governor of the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo,  has called on the federal
government to scrap its policy of
multiple exchange rates. Soludo praised
the steps taken by the CBN in the last
few weeks to restructure the foreign
exchange market, but stated there was still more to it.
Soludo  said that was the only possible way to get
the country out of the numerous economic
challenges and keep on moving forward.
He made it known that, policy makers must
Exclude the current multiple exchange
rates’ regime and reduce the wide
spread between the parallel and official
market exchange rates of the naira to a
maximum of three to five per cent.
Information made it known that,
Soludo stated: “With
regards to exchange rate, I can see quite
some changes in the last few weeks. I
think some steps are beginning to be
taken, but it is still quite a long way to
go to get to a stable and predictable level
that eliminates the premium among the
multiplicity of exchange rates.
“Nigeria must get out of multiple
exchange rates and we must eliminate
the premium, get it back on track at a
competitive exchange rate regime. The
uncertainty that is created by that is so
enormous; and with the oil price rising
and with the increase in oil earnings,
this is the time to take bold steps and do
the needful.”
The former Governor, explaining how policymakers
can eliminate the multiple exchange rates
and close the gap, the nation had done it before, we should be able to re-do that.
He said: “On bold steps, the template is
not too far. We have done it before and it
is just going back to it. If the
template  is not broken, why should we mend it?
Get back and eliminate the multiple
exchange rate regime, eliminate the
premium, or at least significantly reduce
it to not more than between three to
maximum of five per cent premium
between the parallel and official
exchange rates.
“On what it takes to do it, that is
basically known. Get the public well financed.

Soludo made it known that, getting the country
out of the current economic recession
was no big deal. And serious work is needed to
getting Nigeria structured and
Heed towards non-oil economy, the recession is not the
issue. We will get out of it in spite of
government policy. He also made it known that, this is the best time Nigeria should shift away from an oil revenue economy, which requires a lot of dedication.