The Federal Government, on Saturday, said the report that it plans to convert the $30 billion foreign exchange in depositors’ domiciliary accounts to Naira, was an act of economic sabotage.
Recall that there has been media reports that the apex was planning to convert foreign exchange in domiciliary accounts to the depreciating local currency.
But the CBN on Saturday debunked the reports as ‘fake news’ on its official X page.
It said: “No plans to convert $30bn domiciliary deposits to naira. This news is fake!”
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However, to underscore how serious the government takes the denial, the Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, weighed in with his own press statement after the CBN tweet, saying such reports were false and misleading.
He vowed the Federal Government will take up the “breach” in due course.
According to Edun: “There is no iota of truth in the claims of Punch Newspaper that the Federal Government plans to convert foreign exchange in depositors’ domiciliary accounts to naira.
“The publication of such falsehood at a time when the government is working to restore economic stability and confidence in the national currency is tantamount to economic sabotage.
“This report in the Punch Newspaper violates the standards of responsible journalism and it is a breach which will no doubt be taken up by the appropriate authorities in due course.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I emphasize that depositors’ foreign currency in their domiciliary accounts will not be converted to naira.”