Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has declared that the apex bank will take necessary measures to monitor and regulate new entrants in the forex market who are interested in the dairy industry. He emphasized that the CBN will adopt a nuanced approach to intervention rather than reverting to direct developmental interventions.
Cardoso made these statements while addressing journalists during the recently concluded Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja. He elucidated on the rationale behind lifting FX restrictions on dairy products and its impact on the local market, stressing the importance of transparent operations to attract investments.
“We observe that in this particular case, only six companies are allowed to bring in dairy products and its derivatives, and we believe that this is oligopolistic at best. In any case, we should not constrain anybody that wants to come to the foreign exchange market to purchase foreign exchange from doing so. It is not our responsibility. It is not our job to do that,” Cardoso stated. The Governor’s remarks underscore the CBN’s commitment to fostering a competitive and open forex market while ensuring regulatory oversight to maintain stability and fairness in the dairy industry.