FRESH DOLLAR SUPPLY WILL STRENGTHEN NAIRA IN 2024 – FG 27-12-23
By Sadiq Aminu An increase in dollar supply to the country in 2024 will strengthen the position of the naira, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze has disclosed.
Akabueze revealed this in an interview with Africa 247 on Tuesday while reacting to the question of whether the N750 to dollar projected in the 2024 appropriation bill was feasible.
According to him, the government is betting on the success of its policies, hence its positive stance on the exchange rate.
He said, “The N750/$ exchange rate in the 2024 budget is possible. We may begin the year with a little higher amount but if all that the Central Bank of Nigeria says it would do is put in place, as well as other things, we should expect to see a significant increase in the supply of foreign exchange in the economy in 2024.
“If the supply increases, the naira will strengthen. Our focus is on what we can do to stimulate the flow of foreign exchange into the economy.”
He further noted that the government chose the exchange rate to reflect its policy direction.
Also, while commenting on deficit financing, Akabueze, highlighted that the budget deficit of about N9.18tn would be sourced from sources such as privatization proceeds from foreign and domestic investors expected to be about N300bn, N1.7tn from drawdowns on already negotiated multilateral and bilateral debts.
He added that N8tn would come from foreign and domestic sources. According to him, the 2023 budget implementation would continue until 31 March 2024.
The budget office DG concluded, “Revenues for the 2023 budget are on track, recurrent expenditure ongoing. Essentially, only capital expenditure is lagging in terms of the processes involved with the agencies implementing and meeting the requirements for payment. Capital budget implementation is usually measured based on how much has been paid.”