By Halimah Olamide
The debate over the handling of the country’s foreign exchange crisis has continued as former Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, has countered the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Yemi Cardoso over his declaration that the apex bank needs to control demands for foreign exchange.
Kale was responding to a statement by Cardoso where he stated that the bank must moderate the demand before the senate committee on Finance, Banking and Other Financial Institutions on Friday.
“We must moderate our demands for forex. Where there are opportunities to substitute locally, so we should.
“The total quantum for education and medical is more than our external reserves. If we can up our game on education, and medicals, there won’t be the need for our people to go abroad.”
But responding to Cardoso, Kale said trying to forcefully control demand for forex will widen the gap.
He said, “No please! Let’s Concentrate on boosting supply not controlling demand. We can’t really control demand in the near term without once again widening the fx gap and worsening confidence. Anytime we try to forcefully control anything it often leads to an increase in its price.”
NPO Reports that the nation’s foreign exchange sub-sector has come under intense pressure with the belief that it is majorly responsible for the worsening economic situation in the country.