By Felix Onuah
BEIJING, April 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria on Tuesday agreed a currency
swap deal with China, officials said, as it looks for ways to shore up its
ailing currency and fund a record budget deficit, possibly by issuing
yuan-denominated bonds in China.
The West African nation is facing its worst economic crisis in decades
as sinking oil prices eat into its foreign reserves and the naira weakens
against other currencies.
Nigeria has been for months looking for sources to help plug a
projected 2016 deficit of 2.2 trillion naira ($11.1 billion) as President
Muhammadu Buhari plans to triple capital spending.
During Buhari's visit to Beijing, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China Ltd (ICBC) , the world's biggest lender, and Nigeria's central
bank signed a deal on yuan transactions.
"It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different
banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign
exchange reserves of Nigeria," Lin Songtian, director general of the
African affairs department of China's foreign ministry, told reporters.
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The agreement was reached following a meeting between Buhari and
Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The move comes after Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on
Saturday that Nigeria was looking at panda bonds - yuan-denominated
bonds sold by overseas entities on the mainland -saying they that
would be cheaper than Eurobonds.
Nigeria's central bank has said it plans to diversify its foreign
exchange reserves away from the dollar by switching a stockpile into
yuan. It converted up to a tenth of its reserves into yuan five years ago.
Lin said a framework on currency swaps has been agreed with Nigeria,
making it easier to settle trade deals in yuan. China has signed
currency swap deals with countries ranging from Kazakhstan to
Argentina as it promotes wider use of its yuan.
Beijing also signed agreements to develop infrastructure in Nigeria,
part of a drive to deepen its ties with Africa.
ICBC signed a $2 billion loan deal with Dangote group , the company
owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, to fund two cement
plans it plans, he told Reuters.
China's official Xinhua news agency cited President Xi as telling
Buhari that there was huge potential for economic cooperation, naming
oil refining and mining.
In a speech to business leaders, Buhari said both countries wanted to
work together in the areas of agriculture, fishing and the
manufacturing of cars, construction materials and textiles.
Aly Khan Satchu, a portfolio manager at Rich Management, said the
deal would pave the way for panda bonds but this would not be enough
to ease pressure on the naira.
Buhari has rejected calls to devalue the currency.
"Nigerian FX policy remains the elephant in the room and China or a
panda bond is not going to be enough to stop what will eventually
become a tsunami of a devaluation," he said. ($1 = 198.8000 naira)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Chijioke Ohuocha; Writing by Ulf
Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL3N17F3AG

This should bring positive changes to the Nigerian economy.

"It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different
banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign
exchange reserves of Nigeria," Lin Songtian, director general of the
African affairs department of China's foreign ministry, told reporters.

Be scared, be very scared, same people that prepared our budget of chaos.

Goodbye to the Naira, welcome to Buhari's Yuan administration.
Bubu's Government of the Americans, paid for by the Chinese and administered by the Brits.
Let's just change our name from Nigeria to something Chinese to reflect our new owners.

As far as we will not devalue our naira and things will become better I support.

"It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different×banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria," Lin Songtian, director general of the African affairs department of China's foreign ministry, told reporters.

Does this mean we can now change naira to yuan? We can pay for items without the dollar?

Fulani herdsman leading eagles

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) have signed an agreement
that will ease yuan transactions in Nigerian banks.
Lin Songtian, ICBC director-general of the foreign ministry’s
African affairs department, confirmed this to reporters on
Tuesday, saying the Chinese currency will be included in Nigeria’s
foreign reserves.
“It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different
banks in Nigeria and the renminbi has been included in the
foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria,” Reuters quoted him as
saying .
CBN has said it plans to diversify the foreign exchange reserves
away from the dollar by switching a stockpile into yuan,
underlining the momentum behind Beijing’s drive to
internationalise its currency.
Nigeria converted up to a tenth of its reserves into yuan five years
ago. Now the government is considering issuing Panda bonds to
help fund a record budget as Africa’s biggest economy suffers a
slump in global oil prices, which has slashed revenues.
Songtian said a framework on currency swaps has been agreed,
with Nigeria making it easier to settle trade deals in yuan.
China has currency swap deals with countries ranging from
Kazakhstan to Argentina and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari attended the official
opening ceremony of the business forum on China-Nigeria
production capacity cooperation holding in Beijing.
At the official opening of the forum were Xu Shaoshi, chairman of
National Reform and Development Commission; Zheng Zhijie,
governor of National Development Bank, and Qian Hongshan,
assistant manager of foreign affairs.
On the Nigerian side were Okechukwu Enemalah, minister of
industry, trade and investment; Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of
foreign affairs; Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and
housing; and Babagana Monguno, national security adviser.

https://www.thecable.ng/.Vw0XIMOtogY.twitter

Obinoscopy

make I go gather my Yuan before the thing too go scarce.

Its game over for the zoo.

Why not swap buharias brain for once

Obiagelli:

Does this mean we can now change naira to yuan? We can pay for items without the dollar?

exactly.

That's a good news for importers