Nume Ekeghe
Experts in the Nigerian financial service sector have applauded the federal government’s FX unification policy stressing that it will attract foreign direct investments (FDIs), enhance the development of the capital market, and promote inclusive economic growth.
Analysts at Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited stated this in their “Macro Thematic Report on President Tinubu’s Policy Imperatives: Likely Economic Impact and Investment Opportunities.
The report also noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, had also raised the hope of market participants.
On unifying the multiple exchange rate windows, it noted that policy imperative would eliminate arbitrage opportunities and round tripping, support currency stability and halt the trend of galloping inflation and restore foreign investors’ confidence in the sanctity of the market.
On the policy’s expected impact on the broader economy, they stated, “Enhance foreign investment and diaspora inflows, support exchange rate stability, deepen the capital market and promote business sustainability and broader economic growth.”
On the president’s stance on holistically addressing issues of multiple taxations, anti-investment inhibitions including high-interest rate, and capital control measures it added that the policy direction would increase job creation capacity of entrepreneurs and halt the trend of business collapse.
On the potential goals, it states, “Increase the number of taxable businesses in the short to medium-term and attract foreign investment flows especially Foreign Direct (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio (FPI) Investments and expected impact on the broader economy would lower the unemployment rate and accelerate the growth of the national economy and reduce the poverty rate.”
Furthermore, on attendant opportunities in the domestic equities market, the experts stated, “Following the announcement of several pro- market policies by the President, the domestic equities market responded by posting gains of 5.2 per cent on Tuesday 30 May 2023 the highest daily gain since November 11, 2020 causing the NGX to trigger its market-wide 30-minute circuit breaker clause. In our view, we believe that a properly implemented FX unification and the clearing of backlogs would drive traction on the local bourse in the short-to-medium term, especially for foreign participants.
“For context, since 2015, the share of foreign investors’ participation in the domestic equity market has constantly declined, falling from 53.8 per cent to 10.4 per cent in February 2023. We estimate that improved liquidity in the FX market and market reflective pricing could drive foreign participation up to 20.0 per cent by year-end.
”Accordingly, the increased foreign investors’ transactions amid sustained participation by domestic investors would be crucial to driving equity prices of undervalued fundamentally sound stocks closer to their intrinsic value.”
