The federal government has anticipated further appreciation of naira against dollar as it claimed to have settled foreign exchange backlogs.
This was made known by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Taking to X to air the news, he urged speculators to quickly dump their dollars to avoid “tears”.
While reacting to the Central Bank of Nigeria disclosure that it had cleared the $7 billion foreign exchange backlog inherited by Governor Yemi Cardoso, he expressed optimism that the nation’s currency would do better.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday, CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, confirmed the settlement of all valid FX backlog claims.
Ali said the apex bank employed Deloitte Consulting, an independent auditing firm, to meticulously assess the transactions, ensuring that only legitimate claims were honoured.
“Any invalid transactions were referred to the relevant authorities for further investigation,” she stated.
“The CBN’s commitment to tackling the FX backlog appears to be paying off, with the external reserves seeing a significant rise, reaching $34.11 billion as of March 7, 2024, the highest level in eight months
In his reaction, Onanuga tweeted, “With backlog FX settled, Naira is set to appreciate further, faster. Currency speculators should quickly dump their stock of dollars to avoid sorrows and tears.”
