FX pressures seen easing on investments, transparency

Pressures on the naira is expected to further moderate on the back of recent investments in oil, the proposed tax reforms and the new-found transparency in the market, experts have said.

Key stakeholders at the executive roundtable on Nigeria’s 2025 Budget and Economic Outlook hosted by PwC in partnership with BusinessDay Thursday said the country’s economic trajectory is poised for growth this year.

According to Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of Nigeria’s Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, the new FX code introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would enhance transparency and “about $20 million every day is off the market”.

Oyedele argued that the proposed tax reforms, if effected this year, will also give the exchange rate a soft landing, easing its pressures and enhancing fiscal sustainability.

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“Some of the reforms we are doing from the fiscal standpoint will take about $4 billion pressures off the market as well,” the tax chief said.

He added that the tax reforms will halt the practice of Nigerian businesses paying levies, taxes, and revenues in dollars that’s already strained the country’s exchange rate.

“As we are taking off those pressures from the market, we are seeing improved liquidity coming in,” he said.

He explained that with the subsidy removal and the awaiting enactment of the tax reforms “amount we expect to go to the federation account this year should be in the region of $10 billion.”

More details later…