The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has lamented that, despite inward looking foreign exchange (forex) stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over 40 per cent of manufacturers are still unable to access the hard currencies to enable them import vital raw materials, machines and spare parts that are not available locally.
Its President, Mansur Ahmed, who stated this yesterday at the Annual General Meeting of the association, noted that, with the massive drop in global oil prices and the ravaging COVID -19 pandemic, which translated to reduction in forex inflow into the country, the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and manufacturers have confirmed that it was difficult to source forex.
Applauding the stance of the CBN which, he said, has positively impacted the nation’s forex reserves, deepened the backward integration efforts of the manufacturing sector, he lamented that undue restriction of manufacturers’ access to forex, which has created trust issues with overseas suppliers, and reduced manufacturing output through prolonged stockout and factory shutdown. He appealed to the apex bank to also grant manufacturers increased access to forex at the pre-COVID-19 rate to enable them meet with production demand and supply.
Making reference to the Manufacturers’ CEOs Confidence Index (MCCI), meant to gauge perception of CEOs of member companies on the economy and the state of the manufacturing sector, which averaged 51.2 points in 2019, an indication of a meagre 1.2 points above the 50-points performance, he noted it signified that the manufacturing sector was still struggling, in need of a comprehensive and integrated support system from the government.
“Clearly, the sector is still in need of a comprehensive and concerted support system from the government, as observed trend shows that the sector is struggling due to diverse familiar challenges.”
He reeled out some other challenges that have bedevilled the sector in the year under review, to include but not limited to the inventory of unsold finished manufactured products which has risen to an all-time high of about N402.4 billion confirming the reality that the disposable income of the consumers has been grossly eroded.
– Daily Sun