He said, “There is also the issue of current unimpressive forex reserves; high inflation rate; low possibility of raising market rates to more attractive levels; high debt profile and increasing debt servicing costs and public aversion to more borrowing. “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 that has the CBN Governor located right in the middle.”Speaking further, Ajayi-Kadir said there is a need for the country’s fiscal policies and monetary policies to be in sync. He added that manufacturers expect that the new Governor will actively support this policy handshake as this was lacking in the last administration. “I recall that we severally sought to meet with the former CBN Governor to express our concerns over the BDCs management of the forex disbursements but we never got a chance, neither did we get any responses to the fact-based submissions we made on manufacturers’ forex application and receipts.”

Source: Punch September 20, 2023 13:01 UTC