An Economist, Okechukwu Unegbu, has called for total reorganisation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to accommodate developing nations in its policy structure.
Unegbu, the Managing Director, Maxifund Investment and Securities Limited, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday that IMF in its current form could not solve the economic problems of third world nations because of the manner in which it was originally designed.
“We, in this country, should be committed to solving our own problems.
“In fact, the IMF should be scrapped, reorganised or replaced with another body where those of us from the third world will participate in the formulation of its operating guidelines, policies and processes,” he said.
IMF is the central institution embodying the international monetary system.
It promotes balanced expansion of world trade, reduce trade restrictions, stable exchange rates, minimal trade imbalances, avoidance of currency devaluations, and correction of balance of payment problems.
Unegbu also spoke on current intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the foreign exchange market, saying it would have positive impact in the long run.
“People must realise that there are leads and lags in economic planning such that actions taken today will not result in the expectations for which the action was taken immediately,’’ he said.
He said that in the case of the intervention by CBN, the users of the forex had not brought in the raw materials yet for maximum capacity utilisation.
“The action will not immediately impact on the prices of goods in the market, so we should have patience for the policy actions to mature.
“You don’t cut green grass and expect it to dry immediately. It will take some time to dry,’’ said Unegbu.
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