The road to hell is paved with good intentions and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In June 2016, a flexible exchange rate policy was announced, but in reality, what we had was a managed fixed exchange rate instead of a managed floating rate.

The CBN finally succumbed in February 2017 and bit the bullet. The result has been movement towards exchange rate equilibrium and convergence of the multiple exchange rates. The exchange rate is the factor price that brings consistency between the external economy and the internal environment. Therefore, the FDC Think Tank is cautiously optimistic, that this step is a monumental shift in the policy direction that may eventually lift the economy out of the recession trap.

This and more are discussed in detail in this edition of the Bi-monthly publication.