Naira has found its value — Onanuga

The Presidency has said the naira has found its true market value following the foreign exchange reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this while speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Tuesday.

According to him, the naira was significantly undervalued under the previous exchange rate regime, which he said created opportunities for arbitrage between the official and parallel markets.

Onanuga noted that when President Tinubu assumed office, the official exchange rate stood at about N400 to the dollar, while the parallel market rate was considerably higher.

He said the administration’s decision to liberalise the foreign exchange market allowed the naira to reflect its actual value.

The presidential aide also referenced recent comments by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, which he said suggested that the naira’s fair value was around N1,100 to the dollar, despite trading above N1,300 in the foreign exchange market.

Onanuga said: “If you do the mathematics, what was the level of our currency when this President came in? Officially, it was N400 to a dollar. Unofficially, we had criminal arbitrage going on, about hundred percent of the official rate.

“The president allowed the Naira to find its true value.

“Yesterday or so, the IMF said the true value of Naira is about N1100, even though it exchanges above N1300. This is means the Naira will even do better. It has found its true value. It will even appreciate more as we move on.

“What we have found, with the policies the government adopted in 2023, I know about 6 million Nigerians invested in the stock market and have grown wealthier since 2023.

“The companies operating in the stock market are based in Nigeria and are making money, and are also generating wealth for their 6 million shareholders.”