By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The naira rallied to a recovery at the weekend on the back of sustained increase in the country’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves.
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The naira appreciated by 1.0 per cent to N1, 482.81 per dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

This came as the nation’s forex reserves rose by additional $73.05 million to $32.74 billion. It was the fifth consecutive accretion in the continuing buildup of the reserves.

Penultimate week, the reserves had added $195.01 million. It had grown by $89.76 million, $132.68 million and $10.76 million in recent weeks.

At the forwards market, naira contracts closed on the upside at the weekend with the one-year contract appreciating by 1.1 per cent to $1,504.10 per dollar. The three-month contract recovered by 1.4 per cent to N1,546.65 per dollar while the six-month contract appreciated by 0.6 per cent to N1,621.89 per dollar. However, the one-year contract slipped by 0.1 per cent to N1,769.62 per dollar.

Finance and economy experts were unanimous that the buildup in external reserves was a good indication for the country’s currency management and macroeconomic stability.

Analysts expected that changes in forex management rules, steady improvement in crude oil production and upbeat in global oil price could help the country mitigate its volatile forex situation.

President, Association of Capital Market Academics in Nigeria, Prof Uche Uwaleke, said any increase places the CBN in a stronger position to meet forex obligations as well as intervene in the forex market.

“If this development is sustained, we are likely to witness an appreciation of the naira in the forex market and more stability in the exchange rate following improved liquidity. This is one positive development capable of keeping away destructive speculators from the forex market,” Uwaleke said.

Uwaleke however said Nigeria needs to curb excessive import dependence to support its forex recovery.

“It goes without saying that export-based diversification remains the oly sustainable solution to the present forex crisis,” Uwaleke said.

According to him, to curb the demand pressure, government should compel a change in consumption behaviour by enacting a ‘Buy Nigeria law’ akin to the ‘Buy America Act’ of 1933 and recently the ‘Build America, Buy America Act’ of 2021.

“Also, Nigeria’s import data support revisiting and scaling up the CBN’s currency swap deal with the Peoples Bank of China. Given that the bulk of Nigeria’s imports are from China, it stands to reason, therefore, to explore ways of bypassing the dollars and settling these transactions in the Yuan. This was the idea behind the currency swap with China which was largely inadequate in size. In order to increase the stock of Yuan in our external reserves, Nigeria can issue panda bonds, which are bonds denominated in the Chinese Yuan and are considered cheaper than Eurobonds,” Uwaleke said.