AFTER months of resisting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands to devalue the Naira, the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, has bowed to the pressure and now ready to devalue the naira.
Barely a day after the Buhari administration increased the price of the pump price of fuel by 67%, from N86.5 to N145 a liter, a sources in the Presidency disclosed that Mr. Buhari has also agreed to demands by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he significantly devalues the Nigerian currency.
Our source, who indicated that the Naira would be pegged at N290 to one dollar against the current official rate of N198 to a dollar added that President Buhari and his economic team took the decision to accept the IMF’s terms for funds that the Nigerian government wants to access to bridge a critical shortfall in revenue occasioned by a drastic decline in oil revenues.
He opined that “Nigeria could receive as much as $3 billion in credit facilities from the IMF. The truth is that Nigeria cannot operate without sourcing credit from the IMF. And the IMF was adamant that we must devalue before they can discuss extending credit to us.”
