Nigerian central bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said that dollar liquidity in the country’s currency market has risen sharply, pointing to “positive outcomes” from recent reforms.
Transaction volumes totaled $844 million on Feb. 5, he told Nigerian lawmakers Tuesday in Abuja, the capital. “This is the first time in many years it has achieved this level,” he said.
“I want to emphasize that we are now at a turning point,” he said. “I’m confident that positive outcomes are already emerging and will become more apparent in the near future.”
Cardoso said he expected price pressures to decline over 2024 in response to the central bank’s shift to directly targeting lower inflation as it seeks to restore orthodox monetary-policy practices.
Finance Minister Wale Edun, addressing lawmakers a few minutes later, said that Nigeria had been “on the road to economic disaster” prior to the reforms but was now in a much better place.
“Let us be confident. Let us be calm. Let us be assured,” Edun said. “The way forward is up.”