Skip to main content

New Nigerian President Slates Central Bank’s Interest Rate and Currency Demonetization Policy

The new Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu has deplored the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s aggressive interest policy which he has reportedly labeled “anti-people” and “anti-business.” Tinubu also announced the scrapping of a fuel subsidy which has been in existence since the 1970s.

Tinubu: Nigeria Needs Lower Interest Rates to Increase Investment and Consumer Spending

The recently sworn-in Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has chastised the Nigerian central bank’s aggressive interest rate policy which has seen the benchmark rate rise to 18.5%. According to Tinubu, the Nigerian economy needs lower interest rates if it is “to increase investment and consumer purchasing.”

The remarks by the new Nigerian president came just over a week after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s monetary policy committee voted to raise the benchmark rate by 50 basis points. The CBN has argued that its aggressive interest rate policy is intended to tame inflation, which rose to a 17-year-high of 22.22% in April.

However, Tinubu, who predicated his presidential campaign on reducing the country’s unemployment rate and boosting the gross domestic product (GDP), reportedly labeled the CBN’s interest rate policy “anti-business” and “anti-people.”

New Government to Review Central Bank’s Currency Demonetization Policy

Concerning the central bank’s controversial demonetization of old naira banknotes, Tinubu said his government will launch a review of this CBN policy.

“Whatever merits it had in concept, the currency swap was too harshly applied by the CBN given the number of unbanked Nigerians. The policy shall be reviewed. In the meantime, my administration will treat both currencies as legal tender,” the new Nigerian president said.

Meanwhile, in what is seemingly his first significant decision as the new president, Tinubu announced the end of a fuel subsidy which has been in existence since the 1970s. Although it is said to have made the price of petrol one of the cheapest on the African continent, the subsidy has nonetheless been a drain on Nigeria’s finances.

According to a BBC report, the fuel subsidy is estimated to have gulped as much as $9.3 billion from the government’s revenues and may be on course to surpass this in the first half of 2023.

Register your email here to get a weekly update on African news sent to your inbox:

What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/NxWHfD8
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wallet Bot on Telegram Adds Bitcoin Support to Web Interface Following Tether Integration 

Telegram users can now buy, sell, and send bitcoin, as the leading cryptocurrency has been integrated into the Wallet bot on the popular messaging application. The bitcoin support follows the wallet’s recent tether integration, which enables users to transact with the stablecoin as well. Over a Billion Telegram Users Can Now Transfer Bitcoin in Chats On Friday, April 21, the @wallet bot on Telegram announced the addition of bitcoin (BTC) support to its web interface. The development team explained that previously, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization was only accessible in the text bot. “Now, all @wallet users will be able to take full advantage of our web interface,” the announcement on Telegram details. Telegram is extremely popular among cryptocurrency users, and according to a report from April 2023, the messaging app has an estimated 1.068 billion users. Bitcoin.com News confirmed that BTC has been added, as our publication tested the @wallet bot on Telegram...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bitcoin ETFs Snap 10-Day Streak: $93M Flees as Fidelity’s FBTC Takes the Hit

Data compiled Friday revealed a striking reversal for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which snapped a ten-session inflow streak with a $93.16 million exodus—marking their first day of negative movement. Bitcoin ETFs Drain While Ether ETFs Gain The abrupt shift punctuated a previously unbroken stretch of positive momentum for U.S. bitcoin ETFs, culminating in a $93.16 […] from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/Q1xgKWA
Post a Comment
Read more

BLUR Token Plummets Over 28% in March, Despite Blur’s Dominance in NFT Sales Market

While the non-fungible token marketplace Blur has captured a significant amount of the market share in terms of NFT sales, the market’s native token, BLUR, lost more than 28% in value last month. At present, BLUR tokens are down more than 88% since the crypto asset’s all-time high recorded on February 14, 2023. Blur’s Native Token Slides 28% Against the Greenback in 30 Days The NFT marketplace Blur has captured a majority of the NFT sales over the past month, according to metrics from dappradar.com. Additionally, according to data from Dune Analytics, Blur’s market share in terms of volume over the past week was 71%. The Dune Analytics dashboard, created by @hildobby, shows that over the past week, Blur accounted for 42% of trades, while the NFT marketplace Opensea accounted for 48.3%. In terms of trader count this past week, Opensea outpaced Blur, with over 89,000 traders compared to Blur’s 39,000. While the marketplace has been competitive, Blur’s native token, BLUR , suffered...
Post a Comment
Read more