Naira Weakens to 410/Dollar

• Naira Weakens to 410/Dollar

The naira weakened to 410 per dollar against the United States currency on Tuesday, down from 405/dollar recorded on Monday.

This was despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s attempt to improve dollar supply and prop up the local unit.

The CBN had on Monday auctioned $100m in forwards to be settled between one week and 30 days’ time, as against 60-day contracts it had written previously, shortening the settlement period on forward contracts to inject liquidity.

On the official market, the naira closed at 306.10/dollar on Tuesday.

The central bank had on Monday opened a special foreign exchange window for the Small and Medium Enterprises.

The window would enable them to import eligible finished and semi-finished items not exceeding $20,000 for an enterprise per quarter.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, explained that the apex bank’s special intervention was necessitated by its findings that a large number of the SMEs were being crowded out of the forex space by large firms.