Lagos, Sept. 18, 2023: The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has outlined its expectations from the new governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
They called for a more responsive and engaging CBN under the new dispensation.
Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director General, MAN, said on Monday in Lagos following the appointment of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the New CBN governor.
Cardoso was a former Chairman of Citibank Nigeria, and had served in the financial and other sectors with over 30 years of experience across several organisations.
Ajayi-Kadir said the manufacturer’s expectations from the new CBN governor were to promote long-term macroeconomic management, restoration of confidence, and engender economic growth in the short and medium terms.
“Without any doubt, the manufacturing sector in Nigeria is full of expectations from the new CBN Governor.
“It could be said that the period between the exit of former Governor Godwin Emefiele and the appointment of Governor Cardoso is a period of uncertainty and anxiety.
“This scenario was not helped by the mind-boggling revelations about the last management of the CBN one is seeing in the social media,” he said.
The MAN DG urged the CBN governor to address issues of current unimpressive foreign exchange reserves and high inflation rates.
He said there was the need to tackle the low possibility of raising market rates to more attractive levels; high debt profile and increasing debt servicing costs as well as public aversion to more borrowing.
According to him, better attempts should be made to ensure a strategic balance between tackling inflation and engendering economic growth through effective funding.
“So promoting long-term macroeconomic management under this scenario is a task the CBN Governor needs to tackle.
“We are naturally expectant that the change will create an atmosphere that is conducive for the promised reform in the financial sector of the economy.
“We expect that we shall have more transparency and effective management of the exchange rate; quite importantly, a regime of production, supportive interest rate, and robust initiatives to engender price stability.
“We are anxious to have a restoration of confidence in the system and the possibility of economic growth in the short to medium term,” he said.
Ajayi-Kadir also called for the syncing of fiscal and monetary policies, urging the new Governor to actively support this policy handshake.
He added that matters arising from the recent floating of the exchange rate needed expedited measures to bring about harmonisation.
He said this was because manufacturers required foreign exchange to import their raw materials, machines, and spare parts that were not locally available.
“One thing that is also important is for the CBN Governor to pay close attention to the dynamics of our economic environment, and engage critical stakeholders ahead of monetary policy incubation as well as evaluation and monitoring.
“We are confident that Governor Yemi Cardoso has his job well cut out for him and so we look forward to a better management of our monetary policy.
“We expect a more responsive and engaging CBN in this new dispensation,” he said.
