The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, on Friday, defended the apex bank by stating that it is already taking measures to contain the naira to dollar exchange rate and other related issues causing untold hardship in the country currently.

Cardoso stated this during an extensive meeting with the Joint Senate Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance, and Financial Institutions on Friday, where he revealed that the CBN interventions have resulted in an influx of $1bn into the Nigerian market in recent days.

“We have already begun to see shifts in the positive direction. Indeed, they (CBN measures) have already started yielding early results with significant interest from foreign portfolio investors, which was a concern. That has already begun to supply the much-needed foreign exchange to the economy.

“For example, upward of the past few days, we have had over $1 billion that has come into the market, and this quite frankly has answered the question of if our policies are working,” Cardoso said.

The CBN chief stated that based on the available data, he can confidently say that the market has been positively responding to the policies implemented by the apex bank.

He further emphasized that the measures implemented to enhance the supply of US dollars in the Nigerian economy have the potential to reduce the volatility of the exchange rate and subsequently control inflation.

However, he highlighted the importance of Nigeria as a country moderating its demands for foreign exchange in order to ensure the sustainability of these measures.

While the CBN is diligently working towards restoring credibility to the central bank, he reiterated that the primary factor affecting the exchange rate is the demand for US dollars for both business and personal purposes.

Additionally, the CBN Governor assured that inflation is expected to decrease this year through the implementation of the inflation targeting framework, with a projected moderation of 21.1 per cent.

On January 31, the committee summoned the Central Bank Governor to appear before them.

The Senators are urging the CBN to provide clarifications regarding the multitude of economic difficulties that the nation is presently confronting.