Naira Drops To 363/Dollar

The naira recorded marginal weakness at the parallel market on Wednesday, one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 14 per cent.

The local unit dropped particularly from 362 to 363 per dollar, on Tuesday.

On the official market, the naira was quoted at around 305.60, supported by the CBN. It traded at 360/per dollar at the Investors and Exporters’ window.

The local unit had closed at 362/dollar at the parallel market on Monday, the same level it had remained for a long time.

The CBN has also been mopping up naira liquidity to curb speculation on the currency.

The MPC had last week maintained its tight policy on interest rates to support the currency.

The committee kept the benchmark interest rates on hold at 14 per cent, a level it has retained for over a year to curb inflation and prop up the naira.

The CBN has continued to sustain its intervention in the foreign exchange market.

The regulator last week injected the sum of $339.89m into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales.

The bank’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, noted that the continued interventions were in line with the pledge made by the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade.

According to Okorafor, the feedback from the wholesale and retail segments of the Nigerian forex markets shows that customers are satisfied with their level of access to foreign exchange.