EU denies calling for Naira’s devaluation

The European Union (EU) has denied reports that it called on the Nigerian government to further devalue the Naira.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had reported that European Union (EU) official Fillippo Amato advised the Federal Government to devalue the Naira as part of measures to tackle the economic recession.

In a statement by EU office in Abuja and made available to The AUTHORITY Newspaper and titled," "EU not calling for further devaluation of the Naira", described the publication as distorted and out of context.

"Our attention has been drawn to various newspaper publications citing the EU calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to further devalue the Naira. This is an inaccurate representation of the statements made by the Trade Counsellor of the EU Delegation to Nigeria in an interview to the News Agency of Nigeria. His statements were taken out of context and distorted”.

According to the statement, it said that the main thrust of the statement was that, to overcome recession, an enabling environment for doing business and a global package of measures aimed at boosting productivity and diversifying the economy should be pursued.

"Within this framework, an effective flexible exchange rate policy and a removal of artificial exchange control would support the agenda of the government to reduce imports and diversify foreign exchange earnings," it said.

"Similar measures would indeed reduce importation of finished goods which can be produced locally; make non-oil exports from Nigeria more competitive, while allowing imports of critical inputs which are needed by local firms for domestic production," the statement added.