Norwegian council banks on Tinubu’s reforms to boost trade
(c) Lucas Ajanaku
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Atrade group, Norwegian Seafood Council, yesterday in Lagos expressed hope that ongoing economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu would improve trade between the two countries.
Speaking on the sideline of the visit of the Council to Oyingbo Stockfish Market, in Lagos Mainland, Director, Africa, Norwegian Seafood Council, Trond Kostveit, said the initial campaign of the Council was directed at ensuring that the Federal Government delisted stock fish and fish heads from the list of items shut out from accessing foreign exchange (forex) from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) official window, adding that now that it has been delisted with the reform of President Tinubu, it is hoped that there will be enough forex in the long run for business people to thrive.
“We were working to get stock fish delisted in the hope of getting access to forex to make it cheaper for Nigerian consumers. That would have brought down the price of stock fish but unfortunately there was no enough forex liquidity in the country after the reform. This has significantly affected the price of the rich proteinous product in the country.
“We are however hopeful that there will be enough forex in circulation to drive down the cost of the product in the country. There is nothing the Council can do about high price because it is a macro-economic problem,” Kostveit said.
He said the team usually visits the market so as to get firsthand information about what is happening in the market with a view to taking the feedback home to Norway.
Also speaking, another member of the Council, Robert Kaksen, said the high cost of stock fish is a product of the cost of production. According to him, the Norwegian economy is also in recession, saying the value of the Norwegian currency has also dipped against the US dollar.
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