The Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have denied reported plans to convert foreign exchange in depositors’ domiciliary accounts to naira.
Some sections of the media reported on Saturday that the Federal Government had plans to convert the domiciliary accounts to naira as a way to strengthen the naira.
But the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, in a statement that there was no iota of truth in the report, dismissing it as falsehood.
He said: “There is no iota of truth in the claims of Punch Newspaper that the Federal Government plans to convert foreign exchange in depositors’ domiciliary accounts to naira.
“The publication of such a falsehood. at a time when the government is working to restore economic stability and confidence in the national currency is tantamount to economic sabotage.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I emphasize that depositors’ foreign currency in their domiciliary accounts will not be converted to naira.”
The CBN also denied the report on its X page.
It said: “No plans to convert $30bn domiciliary deposits to naira. This news is fake!”
If it goes ahead with the plan, the government will order the conversion of foreign currencies sitting idly in individuals’ and corporate organisations’ domiciliary accounts to naira at a rate to be determined by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to top Presidency sources, the move is meant to stabilise the naira, which recorded its biggest fall in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market on Monday, depreciating by 24 percent to close at N1,348 per dollar.