Just after the CBN Monetary Policy Committee announced devaluation of the naira last year, a CBN Deputy Governor Adebayo Adelabu came out to say the CBN did not devalue the naira. Now the MD of AMCON, Chike Obi has now come out to drop his own doctrine of what happened. Here is what he said about devaluation as reported by Punch.
The central bank last November devalued the Naira by about 8% after it fruitlessly tried to defend it for weeks. This perhaps was mostly due to the falling price of oil and the scampering away of funds by foreign investors. It’s nearly two months now and oil prices have fallen to under $50 per barrel. This has made some analysts to believe maybe just maybe another naira devaluation might be in the offing. Some however believe the naira will actually appreciate in the short term as the elections get closer.
So basically Chike Obi is not just denying that devaluation of the naira did occur but that it was an “adjustment”. He is also promoting a form of inflation driving “adjustments” of the naira which will inadvertently devalue the naira on a quarterly basis. It’s interesting listening to technocrats brandish all sorts of semantics that hold no practical value to our economy.
No matter how he tries to twist what happened in November and what he hopes will happen going forward the CBN devalued the Naira and will devalue it every quarter if it follows Chike Obi’s plans.
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