Nigeria’s President Buhari says naira devaluation would kill naira

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari yet to be convinced that country will benefit from any official devaluation of naira, his spokesman Garba Shehu says in Facebook post, citing comments made in Nairobi on Wednesday.

While export-driven economies may benefit from devaluation of currencies, weakening exchange rate “will only result in further inflation and hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria’s import-dependent economy”.

Devaluing naira will be like having it “killed”.

Proponents of devaluation “will have to work much harder to convince him”. President also rejected suggestions that Central Bank of Nigeria should resume sale of FX to Bureaux de Change. The black-market rate has plunged as foreign currency has become scarce, hitting a record low of 306 per dollar before the governor press release  on Tuesday

In addition, Buhari optimistic that the Nigerian economy will stabilize soon “with the efficient implementation of measures and policies that have been introduced by his administration”.