Nigeria’s multiple exchange rate window has been a cause for concern to trade partners and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Director General of WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed this on Monday while answering questions from journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to her, the multiple rates’ impact of trade is also a cause of concern.
She said some member states had also complained about Nigeria’s invoking the balance of payment agreement to be able to conserve foreign exchange.
She said, “Yes, WTO has one of the agreements of balance of payments and Nigeria certainly invoked this to be able to conserve foreign exchange.
“But some other members have brought a complaint against us (Nigeria), that we shouldn’t have used this article in that way.
“So, yes, the WTO is concerned about foreign exchange; the way we manage it, the way we use it and how we use it to support manufacturing or imports and exports in our economy.
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“I think that we had that discussion with them. They complained about the exchange rate regime and we (Nigeria) try to explain.
“I shouldn’t say ‘we’ because I’m now DG WTO; it is for Nigeria’s representative to explain to the WTO, to those members complaining why we’re doing this.
“Eventually, I think having a strong exchange rate and being able to phase out of this; I think we’ll be heading in that direction. We’re also going to see the governor of the central bank, and will undoubtedly discuss some of these issues.”
During a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geofrey Onyeama, Okonjo-Iweala stated that Nigeria stood to benefit by producing and exporting value added products.
She pledged to support the country with capacity-building and technical assistance to improve the quality of export products.
According to her, Nigeria’s trade account for only 0.3 per cent of the world trade and 19 per cent of Africa’s trade.
She said, “You could see that as very small but you could also turn it around and see it as a big opportunity to make use of what has happened to the Africa Continental Free Trade.
“We will work with entrepreneurs and producers to make that happen so that others can access other markets. Particularly, since we need to diversify away from oil and process agricultural products and this needs a lot of care. So, we hope to be able to provide that directly.”
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