By Oluwakemi Abimbola
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange Group, Oscar Onyema, has expressed optimism that foreign investors will return to Nigeria’s capital market in light of the policy direction of the new administration.
Onyema stated this during the ongoing International Court of Arbitration Africa Conference on International Arbitration in Lagos.
He said that the the inaugural speech of President Bola Tinubu and his preparedness to remove fuel subsidy, unify exchange rates and ensure that investors and foreign businesses repatriate their dividends and profits would motivate investors to come in.
“All these comments are the right noise for money. Money goes to the least resistant places where it can get the best risk adjustment returns and without unnecessary hassles because there is competition across the globe.
“On what we have seen in the last eight years, there has been an outflow of foreign portfolio investments predominantly but with these policy changes, you can begin to understand why we are very optimistic that these flows will come back and with it, attract additional flows,” Onyema said.
Foreign transactions on the NGX have decreased by 38.47 per cent from N616bn in 2007 to N379bn at the end of 2022, majorly due to forex exchange constraints in the country.
The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda, has expressed optimism that the challenges in the market would be tackled.
Yuguda at the last meeting of the Nigerian Capital Market Committee said, “This is a situation that is not permanent, we expect the foreign exchange situation in their country to substantially improve.
There are a lot of economic developments in the country today that are actually laying the foundation for a much more vibrant foreign exchange in the country.”
Source: The Punch
