Naira Appreciates At the Interbank Market

The Nigerian Naira appreciated against the US dollar at the interbank market on Monday, as investors await the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee on the state of the economy.

The currency improved by 0.5 percent to trade at N307.25 to the dollar, from N308.69 it exchanged on Friday.

It, however, remains unchanged at the Bureau de Change segment, closing at N422 against the dollar, N549 to the pound and N470 against the Euro-single currency.

Trading at the parallel market, the Naira stabilised at N425 against the dollar, a figure it has maintained for three days, while it exchanged against the Pound and Euro at N550 and N470 respectively.

Currency traders hope that the MPC would reconsider its forex policy with a view to rescue the nation’s currency, while attacking unemployment by lowering borrowing cost to boost the manufacturing sector.

“The central bank will have to expand its monetary policy and combine it with realistic fiscal policy to ease economic gridlock, while making non-oil sector priority,” said Samed Olukoya, a Foreign Exchange Research Analyst at Investors King Ltd.

“Considering global oil glut, increasing oil production won’t help the nation recover from economic recession, but pushing through with diversification will help create jobs, fight importation and encourage youth participation, since they are the most unemployed going by NBS report,” he added.