9mobile to be sold by Dec. 31, 2017, says Emefiele
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele has denied the rumor that the sale of 9mobile telecom (formerly Etisalat), encountered a hitch on the alleged pull out of Barclays Africa , the financial advisers in the transaction.
He disclosed this at the MPC meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday saying that no official correspondence to that effect has been communicated to him, but disclosed that 9mobile must be sold by December 31, 2017.
He said, “We are working hard at it; and I am very optimistic that with the focused and tenacity of the monetary policy committee that this will be achieved.”
Debunking rumour that Buckleys Bank pulled from 9 mobile transaction , he said nothing of such transpired; just as he assured that a buyer will be secured latest 31st December 2017 for the telecom firm.”
Citing stability in foreign exchange, reduction in headline inflation and reforms in macroeconomic policy as some of the positive gains that have accrued to the economy recently , Emefiele said that MPC members, in their wisdom, voted to hold rates unchanged in order to consolidate on the modest gain.
The governor was, however, optimistic that single digit inflation target is realisable in a short period given the current deceleration in inflation figure. “Between early 2013 and 2014, and around 2015, the CBN set inflation target of 6-9 per cent; and this was substantially adhered to. We must realise that those were periods from 2012; and we keep saying five straight years from 2009 to about 2014, crude prices averaged $110 per barrel. He said that Reserve accretion at a time in 2008 stood at $62bn.
Exchange rate stability was taken for granted during those periods, but unfortunately, beginning from the Q1 of 2014, we got hit by three external shocks: the drop in commodity prices, and for us crude price; the geopolitical tension along various trading routes across the world; as well as the US normalization policy.
The governor said that “these had tremendous adverse consequences on our economy; and we could see that inflation moved from 9 per cent in January 2016, to 18.7 per cent in January 2017. And that is the reason most members of policy committee meeting think it is too high; and we are working very hard, thinking very seriously and we manage it for price and monetary stability and see to the fact that inflation is brought down to the traditional level where we have our target of between 6-9 per cent.
He said : “ You all recall at the last MPC or the penultimate week to the meeting, the issue of 9mobile was raised because the regulators – NCC and CBN, see 9mobile is a systemically important telecommunications’ network in Nigeria. These two institutions decided to intervene to see to it that the 19 million subscribers do not just start running up and down without finding a place for cover.
So, the best thing we did was to stabilize the company and see to it that banks and other important creditors did not go into a journey of dismembering the company, and this may lead to a loss of confidence even in the telecommunications and the banking sectors.” He said,” So, NCC and CBN intervened to see to it that there is stability; and also ensured that the transfer between the old and the new ownership is done in a smooth transition.
That process has continued, it is just like a normal processes; there would sometimes be cases where things are not done the way you expect them to be done. But, what the NCC and CBN had come in to do, is to correct some of the anomalies that we found in the sale process at this time; and I am optimistic that the sale process is still on track. “There is a determination that, that sale must take place before December 31, 2017. We remain focused on it.
Somebody hinted me that there was a news report that Barclays Bank has withdrawn, but I will say that Barclay was hired with a letter, so, Barclay, if they decide to withdraw, will do so by a way of a letter. But, as I speak with you, there is no any letter to that regard. I want to say that report was wrong, we are only trying to let you know the process. They were appointed by a way of a letter; and they will also do so if they want to withdraw by way of a letter.”
Mathew Dadiya, Nafisa Abubakar, Abuja
