Sanusi lays blame on apex bank, CBN

The Emir of Kano and immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has blamed the current destabilization in the Naira exchange rate on the Central Bank of Nigeria.

According to the Financial Times, the ex-governor said that President Muhammadu Buhari risked exacerbating the country’s economic woes and undermining his government’s achievements on security and corruption by endorsing exchange rate policies that were doomed to fail.

The CBN, with the support of the president imposed tight capital controls and pegged the naira at an official rate currently 35 per cent stronger than the black market rate.

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The Emir said, “Unfortunately, because the exchange rate is right out there in front now, monetary policy is being seen as the barometer for broader economic thinking,”

“It is sad that on this one policy, you get it so wrong that you risk taking away attention from everything else you are doing.”

“These policies have been tried in different parts of the world and in this country before, and they have just never worked. No matter what the stated intention behind them, they are wrong,” he added.

Like Sanusi, some financial analysts have also expressed lack of faith in the CBN’s policy, terming it to be counter productive.