Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has again rejected the idea of devaluing the West African nation’s currency, despite a hammering of the naira on the secondary market last week.
The central bank has resisted depreciation by imposing hard currency curbs, which has hit Nigerian firms trying to import raw materials and spare parts. Africa’s top oil producer is in an economic crisis caused by a slump in oil revenues.
Buhari said on Saturday Nigeria could not afford a currency devaluation as it had few exports apart from oil and depended on imports whose cost would rise with such a move.
“Reiterating his opposition to the devaluation of the naira President Buhari said Nigeria cannot compete with developed countries which produce to compete among themselves and can afford to devalue their local currencies,” the presidency said in a statement.
“So, why should we devalue our currency?” Buhari said.
Buhari said the priority of his government, which came to power last year, was to boost food production.
The naira fell versus the dollar to 360 this week. The official naira rate versus the dollar stands unchanged at 197.
