An rise in dollar supply to the country in 2024 will boost the naira’s position, according to Ben Akabueze, Director-General of the Federation’s Budget Office.
This was revealed by Akabueze in an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday, in response to a query on whether the N750 to dollar rate envisaged in the 2024 appropriation bill was achievable.
According to him, the government is counting on the success of its plans, which explains its hawkish attitude on the currency.
He said, “The N750/$ exchange rate in the 2024 budget is possible. We may begin the year with a little higher amount but if all that the Central Bank of Nigeria says it would do is put in place, as well as other things, we should expect to see a significant increase in the supply of foreign exchange in the economy in 2024.
“If the supply increases, the naira will strengthen. Our focus is on what we can do to stimulate the flow of foreign exchange into the economy.”
He further noted that the government chose the exchange rate to reflect its policy direction. Also, while commenting on deficit financing, Akabueze, highlighted that the budget deficit of about N9.18tn would be sourced from sources such as privatization proceeds from foreign and domestic investors expected to be about N300bn, N1.7tn from drawdowns on already negotiated multilateral and bilateral debts.
He added that N8tn would come from foreign and domestic sources. According to him, the 2023 budget implementation would continue until 31 March 2024.
The budget office DG concluded, “Revenues for the 2023 budget are on track, recurrent expenditure ongoing. Essentially, only capital expenditure is lagging in terms of the processes involved with the agencies implementing and meeting the requirements for payment. Capital budget implementation is usually measured based on how much has been paid.”
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