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Abuja Chambers of Commerce hails post-election Stock Market recovery

By BusinessNews Staff on April 7, 2015

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce has expressed delight with what it described “the sudden positive turnaround of the activities in the economy,” especially the massive stock market rally and the exchange rate of the naira in the past few days.

This development, according to the Vice-President, Media, Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Jude Igwe, was as a result of the peaceful conclusion of the presidential election and the declaration of Muhammad Buhari as the president-elect.

He said the private sector was concerned about the negative trends that prevailed in the past couple of weeks leading to the election, particularly the decline of the equities market and depreciation of the naira against the US dollar.

“The severe tension generated by the manner of campaign that was carried out by some politicians put a lot of apprehension on the minds of many investors in the Nigerian equities that the journey was more on one-way, sell off and take your cash.

“The business community is now relieved and the cash is coming out again to the market. The demands on equities have increased up to about N12 trillion as well as positive earnings on the portfolios. The upsurge is very heart warming.

“We believe that since the barometer for measuring the economy is the capital market, investors, both local and foreign, should not be in doubt that life has returned to the system once again.

“The business community is therefore looking forward to the faithful implementation of the economic policies promised by Buhari and we are confident that with his pedigree as a disciplinarian, the economy will be run with discipline, leaving no room for waste or frivolities.

“We are looking forward to seeing a strong team, made of serious minded and patriotic individuals that will bring not only their wealth of experience but also their love for the country into play.

“The private sector would like to see in the team, some practical entrepreneurs mixed with academics and technocrats so that their experiences in those areas will be brought to the table. We would not like to see politicians who do not possess second addresses to manage our economy so that we do not witness a scenario where the goal of the managers is to sustain themselves in their positions and not to sustain the system that guarantees their positions,” Igwe stated.

On the exchange rate of the naira, the spokesperson said the Chamber is also very pleased on the appreciation recorded against some major international currencies at the official and black market ends of the foreign exchange market.

“The indication that the naira appreciated against the euro and the British pound is interesting even though it remained firm against the dollar by the close of the week. The bounce back in the economy is a welcome relief,” he said.

[ThisDay]

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