Former deputy governor of Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafia, says
20 percent of the currency circulating in
the country is fake.
He said this at the
national assembly on Monday, while
delivering a lecture at the public hearing
on the 2017 budget.
Mailafia said it would be impossible to
bring down food prices with fake
currency in circulation.
“Twenty percent of currency
circulating in Nigeria is fake; you
can’t bring down food prices if you
have fake currency circulating,” he
said.
Mailafia said apart from the foreign
exchange crisis, the refusal of CBN to
effectively regulate commercial banks
contributed to the recession in the
country.
“I am a former deputy governor of
CBN so when it comes to regulations,
we could have done better,” Mailafia
said.
“If you have recession, you have to
open a situation room, where experts
will be monitoring the economy daily.
These experts will work to on ways to
get the country out of the situation.”
He advised the authorities to take
concrete steps to prevent the naira from
plunging “down forever”.
“If nothing is done, the naira will
continue to plunge down forever,” he
said.
“This is where boldness in economic
policy is needed. Though the current
administration inherited recession,
Nigerians expect them to tackle it.
That was what the Obama
administration did. We need
stabilisation of the exchange rates.”
He advised that the budgetary process
should be structured in a way that would
ensure rapid economic recovery
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