The Federal Government has allayed fears that the suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, will affect the macroeconomic stability of the country.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated this while briefing journalists on Thursday in Abuja shortly after the announcement of the suspension of Sanusi was made.
She said the Federal Government had put in place sound macroeconomic policies that were capable of mitigating any potential threat to the economy owing to the suspension of the embattled governor.
These policies, she said, had made the country to have “healthy external reserves of $41.4bn” and a single-digit inflation rate.
Okonjo-Iweala said, “Since the news broke, there have been concerns in the market and it is not unusual because when there is a movement involving one of the major people that manage the economy, there is bound to be some reactions.
“But I just want to use this opportunity to focus on assuring market participants of the resolute attention that this government will be paying to managing the economy.
“We are committed to maintaining macroeconomic stability and that has been the hallmark of this administration.
“It is the macroeconomic stability that we have maintained that has enabled us to continue to transform the various sectors of the economy.”
The minister said the Federal Government would continue to maintain tight fiscal and monetary policies that would help to keep inflation rate and the external reserves within acceptable limits.
Okonjo-Iweala gave an assurance that since the acting Governor of the CBN, Dr. Sarah Alade, had been a key member of Sanusi’s administration, there would be no major change in monetary policies.
She said, “We will maintain tight fiscal policies; we expect a continuation of the monetary policies that have been on at the central bank and we have the confidence that this will pull through because the acting governor was the deputy governor for policy and she has been a very strong part of former governor Lamido’s team.
“With this, we will continue with the stability in fiscal policies. This has been the bedrock of the economy and it will be maintained, and we hope that market participation will continue.
“There will be no change in the policy stance of the government in moving this economy forward. The tight monetary policy will continue. We are still a good place; inflation is in single digit, external reserves are healthy at $41.4bn and fiscal deficit remains tight.
“The 1.9 per cent of GDP fiscal deficit we are expecting this year remains and will not go off post, and we still have a current account surplus. All these are hallmarks of a stable economy.”
She expressed the optimism that the naira, which has recorded some fluctuations since the news of Sanusi’s suspension broke, would return to stability.
Asked if the suspension of the CBN governor would not be interpreted as a witch-hunt following his revelation about the missing $20bn oil revenue, the minister said the prerogative for the running of the country was with the President.
She, however, said the suspension of Sanusi would not jeopardise investigations to unravel the missing oil revenue.
The minister said, “Let me say that it is the prerogative of the President to make decisions.
“He is running the Nigerian government; this issue of the independent audit is there no matter what is happening.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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