2015 election won’t deplete Nigeria’s reserves –Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Gov­ernor, Godwin Eme­fiele, has assured Nigerians that the 2015 elections will not deplete the fortunes and reserves of the coun­try.
He gave the assurance at the Africa Business Summit, a high level international fo­rum on Africa’s investment climate and market, with a theme, “Africa is Rising, There are Challenges, Still We Rise”, in New York.
He said the nation’s econo­my was currently doing well and the 2015 election would not let it take a downturn, adding that Nigeria currently has a reserve of about $41 billion, which is the highest in the continent.

The CBN governor said though people are predicting that crude prices will fall and revenues will drop, but with a $39-41 billion reserve sup­porting imports and produc­tion for the next seven-eight months.
“Nigeria’s economy is doing very well and 2015 will not be different. People generally are expecting that crude prices are coming down and maybe there will be reduction in production and crude prices will fall,” he said, adding that the coun­try’s GDP is consistently moving up.
Emefiele allayed the fears of investors in the stability of the economy, saying that Ni­geria’s import reserve with a strength of seven-eight months is very comfortable.
Nigeria’s foreign ex­change reserves have fallen 18 per cent year-on-year, although they had climbed 3.8 per cent in July to $38.49 billion.
Investors had grown ner­vous after the suspension of former central bank Gov­ernor, Lamido Sanusi, in February and ahead of presi­dential elections in February 2015.
“It’s unlikely that the rate cuts will happen before elections early next year,” the CBN Deputy Governor, Kingsley Moghalu, had told Reuters in an interview on rate cuts in London.
“Right now there is a lot of politicking in the air with  increasing spending, but af­ter the elections, when things are calm, we will take a look at the landscape and see if the conditions are right,” he had said.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Trade and In­vestment, Olusegun Aganga, said the summit, which is a private public partnership was meant to educate as well as attract investors. He added that the platform provides a level of advocacy for Nige­ria’s economic image.
According to the Avia­tion Minister, Osita Chidoka, there is currently a 73 per cent potential for aeronauti­cal investment in the country, with potentials in the infra­structure part of the sector to create clusters of infrastruc­ture around the airport