Nigerian opposition criticise government for currency devaluation

The All Progressives Congress(APC), Nigeria's main opposition party, Wednesday criticised the government for its move to devalue the country's currency naira.

]The party objected that the policy would hurt the national economy which depends heavily on imports, Xinhua reported.

Oil prices have lost a third since June, putting pressure on naira which devalued 6.7 percent this quarter.

The Central Bank of Nigeria said Wednesday that it has devalued the naira, setting the new official exchange rate at 168 to the dollar from the previous rate of 155, citing falling oil prices as the trigger.

The move has drawn criticism from APC, whose spokesperson Lai Mohammed told a news conference Wednesday in Abuja that the devaluation of currency had implications on the people's well-being and the economy.

"All it means for a country like ours, which is import dependent, is that more naira will be needed to buy raw materials and machines," Mohammed said, adding it means cost of living would soon go up.

Nigeria has been grappling with dwindling revenue as the price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) basket crude fell at one point to $77.27 below the country's 2013 budget benchmark of 78 dollars a barrel.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), said Tuesday that the current downturn in oil prices is not transitory but appears to be permanent.

Nigeria's Minister of Finance, in an attempt to protect and insulate the economy from the volatility of the global crude oil prices, announced the first tranche of fiscal austerity measures, cutting the 2015 oil benchmark from $77.5 to $73 per barrel.

Nigeria, Africa's largest crude oil producer, is the biggest importer of refined petroleum products in the continent, creating a lucrative market for refineries particularly in Europe and the US.