THE EVOLUTION OF NIGERIA’S MONETARY POLICY & IT’S PERFORMANCE SINCE THE EARLY 1980’S

ABSTRACT

This project has traced the evolution of Nigeria’s monetary policy and its performance since the early 1980’s, to provide a background to the reviews; it discussed same theoretical aspects of monetary management. On the theoretical aspect it reviewed the concepts of monetary management, the objective of monetary policy and the instruments of monetary policy. The highlights of the Nigeria economy of the 1970’s were the growing importance of oil, the expending role of the public sector in the economy and the large dependable on the external sector. Despite the family impression economic performance of the period, some economic problem such as growing fiscal pressures, assumed more serious dimensions. In the prevailing circumstances, monetary central framework and the large divergence of fiscal operation from the set monetary and credit targets. The oil boom of the 1970’s come to an end in the early 1980’s. Consequently, the development strategies, which were considered appropriate during that period, became inappropriate under the environment characterized by substantial reduction in oil import earnings and revenue. Rigorous economic controls were mounted to stain the determination in the general framework. Monetary policy applied more vigorously the credit ceiling. Selective credit controls and regulating on interest rates. The currently problem of monetary policy were largely a carryover from the previous decade and these included the apparent inefficiencies of the monetary control framework based on direct instrument and government fiscal operations especially the increased financing of fiscal deficit by the central bank. Monetary policy, though having the same over all objectives as before was employed to play a unique role in restore my economic stability. In order to reduce credit expansion by banks, credit certings were reduced and backed up liquidity mopping measures such as the withdrawal of all deposits on outstanding external payment arrears and public sector deposits from the bank in 1986 and 1989 respectively, the sectional credit flexibility in their credit operation, which in August 1987 all controls on interest rates changed by banks were removed. Despite the good intentions of monetary management domestic liquidity expand substantially during the period, especially in 1988 and the main source of increase in aggregate bank credit to the economy. Similarly, banks performance with regards to credit certings and sectoral credit guidelines was very poor. Full economic recovery could not be achieved within the short span of the SAP, even though its impact in light of the monetary development was to some extent positive in relation terms. Nevertheless, the problems of monetary policy appeared to have persisted in so far as the fundamental causes had not been removed. The monetary targets were not being achieved, been used over time it become more difficult to enforce compliance particularly as frequent changes were made in the composition of credit and timely data were not usually available. Above all, monetary policy did not achieve the type of synchronisation with fiscal policy as envisaged in the monetary control framework. When fiscal operations deviated from the targets monetary developments could not uphold the underlying assumptions and hence domestic price stability and external equilibrium, which are important objective of monetary policy could be assured. Under these circumstances, a deliberate attempt would have to be made to improve the efficiency of monetary policy in the 1990’s

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