Nigeria will be out of Recession by Third Quarter – CBN Governor

 Following the current efforts and policies initiated by the Federal Government to revive the country’s economy, Nigeria should be out of recession by the third quarter of this year, an official has said.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, made this known after a meeting with the leadership of the Senate in Abuja on Tuesday.

Emefiele further said that the apex bank would continue with its intervention in the foreign exchange market, adding that efforts by the apex bank so far had been yielding positive results.

The CBN Boss also revealed that the country had started to see a gradual fall in the prices of commodities, indicating a reduction in the rate of inflation.

His words: “We are very much optimistic that by the end of the second quarter, or latest the third quarter, we should be out of recession that we are in right now.”

In attendance at the closed door meeting were the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; and Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Rafiu Ibrahim.

Emefiele, while briefing journalists after the meeting, said discussions were held between the apex bank and the legislature on the current state of the economy.

He said, “Actually, the Senate President invited us to come and brief the Senate leadership in a closed session and to provide some updates on the foreign exchange markets. You would have observed that in the last two months, the central bank has been involved in some form of intensive intervention in the foreign exchange market and this has fortunately resulted in a downward trend in the parallel market price of foreign exchange, from as high as N525 to a dollar to as low as N370.