. following the pickup and continued strengthening of domestic economic activities, many firms expressed optimism about the direction of future developments both in the near - term and the short - term, overall business outlook of the macroeconomy 57. 6 37. 7 29. 6 - 15 - 9. 2 august next month ( september 2021 ) next 2 months next 6 months iv. inflation rate : headline inflation rate is expected to moderate to 15. 35 per cent, and 14. 91 per cent by december 2021 and february 2022, respectively. core inflation is equally forecasted to fall from 13. 74 percent in october 2021 to 13. 39 percent in december 2021 and further to 12. 68 percent by february 2022, while food inflation falls from 19. 57 percent to 17. 26 percent and 16. 58 percent over the same period. domestic disinflation is projected on the backdrop of the favourable impact of the various cbn interventions on the real sector and the gradual upscale of economic activity, which is expected to keep prices moderate in the nearterm. v. fx reserves : based on in - house analysis and simulations, external reserves could surpass us $ 42 billion by mid - 2022 from the us $ 41. 5 billion in 2021q3, based on the dynamics of oil price and fx demand for import. generally, external reserves is expected to be at relatively comfortable levels with expectation of sustained trend of current crude oil price, the impact of eurobond issuance, and stable exchange rate condition. concluding remarks 50. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in concluding my remarks, let me add that while we have been able to contain some of the effects of the covid - 19 pandemic on our economy, it is imperative that we work to build a more resilient economy that is better able to contain external shocks, whilst supporting growth and wealth creation in key sectors of our economy. we must take deliberate steps to diversify the base of the nigerian economy. as the true african giant, we must fold our sleeves and do everything possible to stop the incidence of importing anything and everything. proactive steps on the part of stakeholders in the private sector in collaboration with the government in supporting the growth of sectors such as manufacturing, ict, and infrastructure, will strengthen our ability to deal with the challenges of covid - 19, and stimulate further growth of our economy. i thank you for your attention. godwin emefiele, con governor, central bank of nigeria 26th november 2021

of law enforcement agencies in recovery. let me reassure especially the customers of the affected banks and all the banks in general that there is no cause for alarm they should continue to transact their normal business in the banks where their accounts are domiciled as this exercise is meant to further strengthen the banking industry and recapitalize the affected banks. i should also state at this point that the scope of the special examination was widened to cover all 24 banks. so far, we have concluded the audit of 10 banks including these five, the others being diamond bank, first bank, united bank for africa, guaranty trust bank and sterling bank. we have also commenced the next batch of 11 banks and hope to conclude them by end of august, all in all, we expect to conclude the audit in mid - september. the central bank is requiring all banks to make appropriate provisioning for non - performing loans and disclose them. we hope that by the end of this quarter, all banks would have cleaned up their balance sheets. on the basis of the information available to us so far, we are confident that the banking system is safe and sound and we have dealt with the major sources of systemic risk. i will conclude by restating that, going forward, the cbn will not waiver in its desire to ensure that public confidence in the nigerian banking system is maintained through appropriate disclosures and the reinvigoration of its policy of zero tolerance on all professional and unethical conducts. we will not allow any bank to fail. however, we will also ensure that officers of banks and debtors who contribute to bank failures are brought to book to the full extent of the law and that all proceeds of infraction are confiscated where legally feasible. thank you.