Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has debunked the viral reports that it has devalued the Naira.
Recall earlier, a report which emanated from Daily Trust stated that following the CBN governor Emefiele’s meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the issue of the exchange rate, the apex bank decided to devalue the nation’s currency.
However, in a tweet, via its Twitter handle on Thursday morning, CBN simply tweeted: “CBN did not devalue the Naira!”.
The Ag. Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin in a statement said: “ The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a news report by Daily Trust Newspaper of June 1, 2023, titled CBN Devalues Naira To 630/$1.
“We wish to state categorically that this news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.”
He added that the I&E window is open for verification and such claims of sale reported in the report are totally malicious and false
He added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) window traded this morning (June 1, 2023) at N465/US$1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.
The public is hereby advised to ignore the news report by Daily Trust in its entirety, as it is speculative and calculated at causing panic in the market.”
Furthermore, he added: “Media practitioners are advised to verify their facts from the Central Bank of Nigeria before publishing in order not to misinform the public.”
CBN did not devalue the Naira! pic.twitter.com/GDz8uXVVwQ
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) June 1, 2023
Checks as of the time of writing this report showed that the naira is N461.293 per dollar
The reported alleged devaluation is coming barely 48 hours after President Bola Tinubu announced the plans of the federal government to unify Nigeria’s exchange rate to stimulate the country’s crumbling economy.
Recall that the President had in his inaugural speech said that the “Monetary policy needs a thorough house cleaning.”
Following the development, Tinubu met with the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the presidential villa on Tuesday.
It was believed that the issue of the exchange rate and the removal of the petrol subsidy was discussed at the meeting.
