Naira speculators stash idle $20bn in banks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday stated that a few individuals were keeping about $20bn idle in domiciliary accounts in hopes that the value of the naira will further drop against the U.S dollar.

CBN deputy governor, Financial System and Surveillance, Dr Joseph Nnanna stated this at an interactive session organised by the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation with government officials.

According to him, a few individuals in the country were responsible for the decline in the value of the naira, adding, that by the time the 2016 budget is passed, those people involved will have their fingers burnt.

He said, “Naira problem is our own making. Some individuals are speculating on the dollars to the detriment of naira. Why should we have individuals that have $20 billion in different domiciliary accounts idle?

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“Volatility in exchange will not continue after the passage of 2016 budget.

“Those who speculate on naira will have their fingers burnt by that time because we are going to embark on aggressive liquidity mop-up to make the naira stronger.”

In his remarks, Senator Danjuma Goje, who chaired the session, insisted that the passage of the 2016 budget will not exceed March 17 as promised.

Goje also said the implementation of the N500 billion intervention fund contained in the 2016 budget proposal would not be feasible since there were no clear implementation strategies.

He added that though explanations were given about the implementation strategy, they were not satisfactory.

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