CBN Banking Reforms Thrill US Congress

•FDI: Apex bank, SEC move against bubble capital

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), are putting structures in place to ensure that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria or capital flows do not result in another speculative bubble.

CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the Director-General of the SEC, Ms Arunma Oteh, made the disclosure on Tuesday at a congressional hearing in the US , to the obvious delight of the American lawmakers.

Sanusi, who was invited by the US Congress Subcommit-tee on International Monetary Policy and Trade, said the regulators are following the capital inflows to ensure that “the right kind of financial and economic policies are in place to attract the right kind of FDI”.

At the congressional hearing christened “Global Financial Crisis and Financial Reforms in Nigeria ”, Sanusi and Oteh addressed many questions relating to the restoration of confidence in the financial markets and the creation of an enabling environment to attract capital inflows into Nigeria without leading to another speculative bubble.

The Congress invited Sanusi and Oteh to tell the Nigeria and Africa story, to better inform the US work in support of emerging markets.

The Vice President and Senior Fellow, Centre for Global Development, USA, Mr. Todd J. Moss, who was also at the hearing, urged the Nigerian authorities to deal with the fiscal situation of the country as a matter of urgency, citing the case of savings in the Excess Crude account, which stood at $20 billion just 20 months ago but now almost completely depleted.

Moss, who was the third witness at the hearing, said in his submission that “the global economic crisis may turn out to be a good thing for Nigeria ”, explaining that the country’s banking troubles were largely local in nature.

Thisday Newspaper