The International Monetary Fund has said more Nigerians have gotten poorer under the President Muhammadu Buhari government despite the country’s slow recovery from recession.
In a report released yesterday, the IMF said Nigeria needs urgent economic reforms. It identified risks to growth, including additional delays to implementing policies and reforms ahead of the 2019 elections, security tensions, and oil prices, a fall in which could see capital flows reversed.
The IMF however said that though the outlook for growth had improved, it still remained challenging.
The Central Bank of Nigeria frequently injects hundreds of millions of dollars into the foreign exchange market to keep its own rates stable.
The IMF further singled out the central bank, saying it should discontinue direct interventions in the economy.
The IMF further repeated its call for Nigeria to simplify its complex foreign exchange system which has left large gaps between official rates and various windows that certain groups can use to get other rates.