Buhari Curbs Nigeria Central Bank Independence to Save Naira
- Autonomy questioned as Buhari says he won't `kill naira'
- Argument for naira devaluation overwhelming, says Afrinvest
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Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari erased any doubt about who is in charge of currency policy in Africa’s biggest economy -- to the detriment of the central bank’s independence.
Buhari said that he won’t “kill the naira” by allowing it to be devalued and that a weaker currency will only result in higher inflation and hardship for the country’s poor- and middle-class. His comments to Nigerians living in Kenya on Wednesday came only a day after Governor Godwin Emefiele resisted pressure to depreciate the naira despite a plunge in oil prices that’s slashed revenue in Africa’s biggest crude producer.