IMF says Nigeria's naira over-valued by around 10 to 20 percent

Reuters
A trader changes dollars with naira at a currency exchange store in Lagos, Nigeria, February 12, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Penney/File Photo/File Photo

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's naira is over-valued by around 10 to 20 percent, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) country head said on Wednesday, when the organisation released a critical report on government efforts to boost growth in Africa's largest economy. "We do find there to be some over-valuation at this point of the naira, of the official currency, somewhere to the tune of 10 to 20 percent," Gene Leon, IMF mission chief for Nigeria, said in a telephone media briefing. In the report, the IMF urged Nigeria to introduce immediate changes to its exchange rate policy - characterised by central bank curbs, multiple exchange rates and an artificially high naira valuation - or risk "a disorderly exchange rate depreciation". (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Larry King)