CBN Monitors Govt, Politicians Spending for 2015 Elections

Godwin Emefiele, governor, Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the apex bank was closely monitoring government spending and those of individuals as the nation moves nearer the 2015 elections with a view to taking proactive measures towards checking their negative effects on the economy.

Emefiele said: “We are monitoring the situation and the prevailing situation in the market; monitoring the spending of government and individuals as we go into election season.”

He was reacting to questions at his briefing on the outcome of the 96th Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC) meeting which held between Monday and yesterday, in Abuja, where he also announced the retention of the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, at 12% , with a corridor of +/-200 basis points.

The governor renewed his earlier commitment to drive down interest rates in the country, using monetary policies and said that the economy was already moving towards that direction.

According to him, “we can see that the micro-economy is beginning to move into the direction that we expect and we are going to see the reversal of interest rate in the near future.

“We are optimistic of the mandate of bringing down the interest rate. We will do everything doable to ensure that this is achieved. We will do that within the ambit of the parameters involved and ensure that we do not create another problem for the people.

“We are working on the issue of interest rate. In my inaugural speech on June 5, I said that we are going to pursue a gradual reduction of interest rate. It is a five-year agenda that we made.”

The CBN boss also revealed that foreign reserves had risen to $40.2 billion and urged that reserves accretion needed to improve much faster to provide a strong and more resilient buffer to fiscal operations.

He said: “Gross official reserves rose to US$40.20 billion by July 18 from US$37.31 billion at end June 2014. The increase in reserves was mainly due to increased accretion and moderation in the rate of depletion.”

Emefiele noted that inadequate gas supply to electricity generating plants remained an impediment to the realisation of the full benefits of the recent privatisation of the power sector.

He, therefore, urged collaborative efforts by both the government and private sector players in the industry and good spirited Nigerians towards ensuring that Nigerians reaped the benefit of the exercise.