Yemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) are eager to return to the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with newsmen, Cardoso said Foreign Portfolio Investors are still interested in coming back based on the reforms of the current administration.
“A lot of FPI are still interested in coming back to the country. They have taken a lot of methodical interest in understanding the reforms that have taken place and seeing how it is taking the country to the right direction,” he said.
“They also see rating agencies coming out with their own conclusions, of how they see the economy of the country progressing, it validates what they are thinking, we do additional reforms, it continues to please them,” he added.
He added that the recent mover to have NNPC and some other MDA to move their funding to the CBN also senses a powerful signal., thereby boost the confidence.
Cardoso noted that the positive reforms that people are seeing from outside are boosting their confidence making their money to come in and volatility will begin to reduce.
Foreign investments in Africa’s Biggest economy dropped to $654.7 million in the third quarter of 2023, the lowest level since the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) started collating the data in 2013.
The report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows that total capital importation into Africa’s biggest economy declined by 36.5 percent to $654.7 million in Q3 from $1.03 billion in the previous quarter. It also declined on a year-on-year basis by 43.6 percent from $1.16 billion in Q3 2022.
In the second quarter of last year, the Federal Government implemented key economic reforms. They are the removal of petrol subsidy, merging all foreign exchange segments into a single market.
The FX reform has led to a large devaluation of the naira.
The governor noted that the naira has continued to depreciate against the dollar and other major foreign currencies since then.
He added that the naira is undervalued on the distortion impact of panic and not understanding how things take place and how things get determined and as a result irrational decisions are being taken.
He added interventions are necessary for the economy, as intervention helps to channel resources together.
