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As part of measures to protect the integrity of the financial system, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called on the Federal Government to evaluate its domestic indebtedness and put modalities in place for payments.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its two-day meeting in Abuja, the committee explained that the debt profile had slowed down economic activities.
In the communiqué read by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, the committee reiterated that monetary policy alone can not address the current economic crisis.
The CBN Governor said: “Members stressed the need for a robust and more keenly coordinated macroeconomic policy framework that would restart output growth, stimulate aggregate demand and rein in inflation expectations.
“The MPC urged the Federal Government to urgently assess the extent of its indebtedness to domestic economic agents and develop a framework for securitising the debts in order to settle its outstanding domestic contractual obligations, which cut across all sectors of the economy.
“These accumulated debts have slowed the business activities of economic agents, most of who are indebted to the banking system, thus compromising the integrity of the financial system. It also advised the bank (CBN) to commit to greater surveillance and deployment of early warning systems in managing the banking system.”
The committee also called on security agencies to sustain their checks on the activities of illegal foreign exchange operators in order to bring sanity to that segment of the market.
Emefiele said:“The extant foreign exchange regulation outlaws the trafficking of currency on the streets as some unlicensed operators currently do.
“Thus, to evolve an appropriate naira exchange rate that stabilises the foreign exchange market, Bureau De Change operators must strictly observe the terms and conditions of their licences.”
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