We are addressing balance of FX backlog – Cardoso

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said the apex bank is addressing the long outstanding balance from the $7 billion foreign exchange transaction backlog it inherited from the previous administration.

Speaking at the 2024 Nigerian Economic Summit dinner in Abuja, Cardoso stated:

“We had a situation where there were pressing issues and pressing immediate demands. But I didn’t deny it. It was very clear to me that was something that needed to be tackled immediately to give confidence to international investors and others that as a central bank, we would meet our obligations.”

But of course, when in the process of verifying the claims and as and when we began to have a better understanding of the claims and the appropriateness of the claims, I know that as of now, there are still some which have not been verified, we are working on those.

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“We are at a particular stage now where we’ve gone through stage one and we’re about to go into stage two, verifying those claims as the case may be.”

Why taming inflation is critical

Cardoso also said that the CBN would remain focused on taming inflation because it was very critical to the stability and growth of the economy. He stated: “Now we have a situation where, from our perspective, taming inflation is key. And this is because if you do not tame inflation, it has such a major throwback. It can deter investment, it significantly reduces purchasing power, and for those who are in productive engagement, they find that the people that they expect to be buying their goods are not allowed to do so.

“So it is so important for us to take inflation and keep it under control. This is critical. Sometimes we expect that the trade-off between the real sector, high interest rates, and of course the whole issue of inflation could be a timely issue, and ultimately we hope because that is, as inflation begins to moderate, interest rates start to come down, and of course it’s a lot easier for the productive sector to operate”.