‘Emefiele Will Stay Out of Politics’

Mr. Godwin Emefiele Obinna Chima with agency report Financial market analysts have described the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) designate, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as a steady hand who will maintain tight monetary policy in the face of currency weakness and avoid his predecessor's controversial foray into politics. Emefiele's name was submitted to the Senate last week. He is expected to takeover by June. The presidency last week suspended Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the CBN governor over allegations of financial recklessness and Dr. Sarah Alade was appointed the acting governor. Emefiele, who at 52 is the same age as Sanusi, boasts more than 20 years experience in the banking sector. He is the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank, Nigeria's third biggest, where he has built a well-capitalised and stable banking institution. "He's done a solid job at Zenith and is likely to be a steady hand who will be calm, but markets are jittery right now, so he's got a challenge on his hands," Reuters quoted a Nigerian banking source to have said. According to the news agency, his biggest challenge will be to protect the naira, which has come under pressure on concerns that reduced US monetary stimulus will crimp fund in-flows to emerging markets. Analysts expect him to be more discreet than Sanusi, who was often criticized by government officials for going far beyond his remit, happy to talk openly about anything. He won't dip into politics, given the manner of Sanusi's exit, analysts said, and he was described by several banking sources as a conservative figure that appears confident in public but gives little away."We expect he will maintain the current monetary policy tightening stance," Vetiva Capital said in a research note."In the short term, we believe the currency will remain under pressure which would require continuous monetary tightening - restraining loan growth within a high interest rate environment," it added.
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