By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has explained that multinational companies exiting Nigeria did not have a liquid foreign exchange market.
According to him, the government is working on the economic and investment climate to attract more multinationals into Nigeria.
The Minister stated this while fielding questions as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
Edu said a proposal to make things easier for both local and foreign manufacturers in the country is in an Economic Stabilisation Package before the President Bola Tinubu.
“One of the major drawbacks for them (exiting multinationals) was they did not have a liquid foreign exchange market.
“Companies will always come and go, of course, our aim is to not only keep them but to have them even more coming to invest, and we are sure that with the environment that we put in place, they will come.
“We are in a difficult place, so every single day, every single month, we are looking at an improved economic situation for Nigeria,” he said.
Among multinationals that have exited the country in the last one year include Procter and Gamble (P&G), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Unilever, Sanofi-Aventi Nigeria, manufacturer of Huggies and Kotex brands of diapers, Kimberly-Clark, among others.
The companies cited high energy cost and currency depreciation as their reasons for exiting the country.