The Nigerian Exchange, NGX, Group and some listed companies have sought for the intervention of the Federal Government (FG) to ease the challenges faced by the manufacturing sector in the country
This was part of the discussions at yesterday’s closed-door session during a visit of the Minister of Industry, and Trade & Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, to the NGX headquarters in Lagos.
Foreign exchange losses and high financing costs have become dominant adversity for players in the manufacturing sector of the economy in the last few months.
Speaking at the meeting, the Group Chairman of the NGX Group, Dr Umaru Kwairanga, said it was essential for the government to engage players in the capital market, stating, “This is important, so that they can know the challenges and be able to proffer solutions to aid the listed companies.”
However, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NGX Group, Temi Popoola, maintained that the economy had seen the worst and that the outlook feels positive. He added that there were areas for NGX to collaborate with the FG in a bid to boost the small and medium scale sector of the economy through improved liquidity. Popoola urged the FG to become intentional about regulations that would improve the activities of the capital market.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Sugar Refinery, Ravindra Singhvi, at the meeting, lamented the lack of hedging mechanism for their foreign exchange loans and how the high interest rate needed to come down to ease the operations of manufacturers. He said, “There are no hedging mechanisms for us and this leaves us exposed to changes in the currency market.”
Also at the Managing Director, BUA Foods, Engr. Abioye Musibau Ayodele, stated: “I think the economy is trying to recalibrate. The FX situation impacted the manufacturing sectors negatively but it did not affect others like that. There is a need to consider aggregating power supply for manufacturing clusters like Agbara because after raw materials, the cost of energy is one of the highest costs.”
