"Standard Bank says allowing weaker naira is \u2018right thing to do\u2019"

" Standard Bank says allowing weaker naira is \u2018right thing to do\u2019 \r\n\r\nStandard Bank Group Ltd.\u2019s chief said the Nigerian central bank\u2019s moves to revamp the nation\u2019s foreign-exchange market and allow the naira to weaken are necessary to create order.\r\n\r\n\u201cIf the authorities stick to their orthodoxy and they allow the naira to free float on the basis of economic fundamentals, one would expect it to weaken a little bit further, and that is just the rational thing to do,\u201d Chief Executive Officer Sim Tshabalala said Thursday. \u201cObviously, that has got the impact on inflation, but I think that the authorities are quite ready to deal with those consequences.\u201d\r\n\r\nNigerian President Bola Tinubu has introduced a raft of measures since coming into office in late May to attract investors back into the economy and support the naira, which has lost more than 70% of its value against the dollar since last year. They include relaxing foreign-exchange controls, easing rules on international money transfers and reducing the gap between the central bank\u2019s policy rate and yields on the short-dated paper it sells at auctions.\r\n\r\nThe central bank also hiked interest rates by a much-bigger-than-expected 400 basis-point rate in February as it sought to bring inflation down from a three-decade high and restore confidence in the battered naira.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe balance of our excess cash reserve ratio were repaid by the authorities,\u201d Tshabalala told Bloomberg Television\u2019s Jennifer Zabasajja in an interview. \u201cJust another step in the direction of normalizing and introducing orthodoxy in the environment.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe country is already benefiting from improving investor perception.\r\n\r\nForeign portfolio investor asset purchases exceeded $1 billion in February, bringing total receipts so far this year to at least $2.3 billion, Hakama Sidi Ali, a spokeswoman for the central bank, said last week. That compared with $3.9 billion for the whole of 2023. Overseas remittances rose more than fourfold to $1.3 billion in February from a month earlier.\r\n\r\n Growing Business \r\n\r\nStandard Bank will focus on growing its business in Africa as it seeks a greater share in the 20 markets where it operates on the continent, Tshabalala said.\r\n\r\nEast Africa is \u201can exciting region because of the increased rational policy formulation and execution there,\u201d and continued orthodoxy in Ghana and Nigeria \u201cwill also be creating opportunities for us,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nThe bank\u2019s rest-of-Africa business overtook South Africa \u2014 its home market \u2014 as the biggest driver of growth in the year to December, but there is \u201cnothing on the horizon\u201d in terms of acquisitions this year, Tshabalala said.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe countries of Africa are growing faster, and therefore we hope that they can continue to vote with their feet and with their wallet as we see the positive impact,\u201d Yinka Sanni, Standard Bank\u2019s CEO for Africa regions, said in a separate briefing Thursday."

"Standard Bank says allowing weaker naira is \u2018right thing to do\u2019"

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