Why CBN should cut interest rate, by El-Rufai

•El-Rufai

•Amosun seeks new forex window

Kadunna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its interest rate regime by cutting it drastically.

Speaking at the State Governors’ Panel during the Economist Conference concluded yesterday in Lagos, the governor said interest rates are politically determined and that the current lending rates in excess of 20 per cent is not acceptable because only traders can borrow at that rate.

He said: “The CBN should bring down the interest rate or one day, we will have to do it for the bank; we should be looking at having a single digit interest rate.”

el-Rufai said devaluation as being canvassed by international investors is not in the interest of the economy, and will only favour the rich and not the poor. “I am against devaluation of the naira because previous devaluations did not work given that we are not an export-driven country,” he argued.

Also speaking at the event, Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, agreed with el-Rufai that interest rate should be cut to a maximum of seven per cent. Amosun also sought  the creation of a secondary forex market for importers and other forex users who cannot access dollar from the official window.

He said the state is deeply committed to promoting agriculture and empowering women entrepreneurs. “We have come to realise that getting agriculture right will even help interest rate to come down. We need to sustain key sectors of the economy especially the agriculture sector,” he said.

His Nasarawa State counterpart,  Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who was also at the event said agriculture, holds the future for the country. He said the state is taking strategic steps to attract investors to expand agric business and create wealth for the people. He said Nigeria has to take full advantage of opportunities in different sectors of the economy.