Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) are among real sector stakeholders conferred with the Commerce and Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria (CICAN) awards on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Charles Okonji, Chairman, CICAN, at the association\u2019s awards night in Lagos. said MAN was recognised for its giant strides in advocacy for the real sector, while the SON award was for sustaining focus on standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Malinson Ukatu received an award for pioneering tiles production in Nigeria, Mr George Onafowakan for great strides in wiring and cables, Igwe Chris Oranu for great manufacturing feat”<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs Zaheera Baba-Ali received Public Officer for the Year Award; Bede Obayi got the award for Standards Ambassador for the Decade and Dr Adeola Odedina was awarded Agricultural Performer of the Year.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) got the award for sustainable partnership with CICAN,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his address, Dr Muda Yusuf, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), called for the adoption of a flexible exchange rate policy regime to mitigate the current foreign exchange crisis.<\/p>\n
Yusuf said the move would\u00a0minimize discretion and arbitrage in the foreign exchange allocation mechanism,\u00a0reduce uncertainty and inspire the confidence of investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me clarify that this is not a devaluation proposition. Rather, is it is a pricing mechanism that reflects the demand and supply fundamentals in the foreign exchange market”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a model that is sustainable, predictable and transparent. It is a policy regime that would reduce uncertainty and inspire the confidence of investors”<\/p>\n
\u201cDevaluation is a policy choice often adopted to boost export and discourage imports”<\/p>\n
\u201cCountries adopt this measure, not necessarily because they have a foreign exchange or balance of payment crisis; but as deliberate trade policy strategy to make their exports cheaper”<\/p>\n
\u201cA flexible exchange rate regime on the other hand is adopted to cope with changing demand and supply conditions in the forex market\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yusuf noted that the challenges of forex on the real sector, and indeed on practically all sectors, were three dimensional.<\/p>\n
He said they included the\u00a0sharp depreciation over the last one year, liquidity crisis and volatility of the exchange rate with its attendant uncertainty for investors.<\/p>\n
The CPPE chief said the impact of the challenges on the sector led to high cost of production, low sales and increased business continuity risk for some segments of manufacturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the bid to reduce the pressure on foreign reserves, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had excluded over 40 items from access to foreign exchange in the official window”<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the products on this list are intermediate products for some manufacturing firms”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis had some degree of negative effects on some manufacturing firms. It would be advisable for the CBN to have a robust engagement with the stakeholders to review this list,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yusuf listed the benefits of a flexible exchange rate model to include enhanced liquidity in the foreign exchange market, reduced uncertainty and increased confidence of investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, it is a more transparent as mechanism for forex allocation, minimizes discretion in the allocation of forex and reduces opportunities for round tripping and other sharp practices”<\/p>\n
\u201cA fixed exchange rate regimvy on the other hand widens gap\u00a0between the official and parallel market exchange rates, mounts trade debts, amongst others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) are among real sector stakeholders conferred with the Commerce and Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria (CICAN) awards on Thursday. Charles Okonji, Chairman, CICAN, at the association\u2019s awards night in Lagos. said MAN was recognised for its giant strides in advocacy for the real sector, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":5050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\n