Following recent monetary Reforms which changed the face of Forex procurement in the country, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has stated that consumers should be prepared to pay higher amount for goods as prices will go up.
Segun Ajayi Kabir, the President of MAN, disclosed this on Thursday while explaining the downside risk of the new Central Bank of Nigeria policy of liberalizing the naira at a single window, the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window.
The CBN had on Wednesday sent a circular that authorizing banks to buy FX from anywhere and at market price.
The new policy runs against the different windows held by the apex bank where they dictate the pricing of forex.
The MAN president said: “To us, it comes with a lot of certainties. I believe that it is going to create efficiency in the market and it is going to lead to capital inflow and give us a market penetration. It would improve our participation in the export market.
“As manufacturers, there is a downside. It is going to make our imports more expensive and so you will expect that the cost is going to be transferred to the final consumers. But on the balance, we see it as a positive development.
“What has happened tends to be in line with what we had anticipated that there will be some measure of unification and so this floating has tended to narrow if not remove the gap between the official rate and the parallel market rate which we have always complained has been inimical to productivity and particularly manufacturing.
“Our immediate reaction will be that it has its pros and cons but at least it has given us some measure of certainty and we are able to plan better and anticipate what we will require to import our raw materials, spares, and machines that are not locally available.
“But like I said, it comes with plus and minuses even when we had the official rate, most of our members were unable to procure forex and most of them were having to rely on the parallel market or some other means.”
