Kemi Adeosun must be sick of answering questions about a policy she can’t control. The finance minister will do little else today, when she discusses a potential Eurobond with investors in a five-star London hotel. For over a year, Nigeria’s central bank and the autocratically inclined president, Muhammadu Buhari, have held the naira at artificial highs. Dollar shortages have forced businesses into the black market, where the currency trades at 44% below official rates, and investors have run for the hills.
The fiscal deficit is a record $11 billion. But without a change Ms Adeosun will be hard pushed to find cash to fund the expansionary budget.
Grudgingly, Mr Buhari has spoken of a more “flexible” approach—probably a second exchange rate. Too little, too late: the economy contracted 0.36% in the first quarter and a recession looks almost inevitable. It will be Nigeria’s first in more than a decade.
The fiscal deficit is a record $11 billion. But without a change Ms Adeosun will be hard pushed to find cash to fund the expansionary budget.
Grudgingly, Mr Buhari has spoken of a more “flexible” approach—probably a second exchange rate. Too little, too late: the economy contracted 0.36% in the first quarter and a recession looks almost inevitable. It will be Nigeria’s first in more than a decade.
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