The director-general of the World Trade Organisation said on Monday that her organization is concerned about Nigeria's foreign exchange management and how it has been used to support manufacturing, exports and imports.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – a former Nigerian finance minister who took the top job at the WTO this month – said some WTO members had brought complaints and that Nigeria needed to explain its foreign exchange regime to them.

Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria had invoked WTO's agreement on balance of payment to conserve foreign exchange.

Nigeria's balance of payment gap hit 14 billion dollars in 2020 following a wider budget deficit triggered by a COVID-induced oil price crash that slashed revenues, weakened the naira and caused dollar shortages.

Abdullahi Hassan reports.