Naira Declines against Dollar Despite $205m Offer

• Naira Declines against Dollar Despite $205m Offer

The Nigerian Naira plunged against the U.S. dollar on Monday, even after the Central Bank of Nigeria injected $205m into the foreign exchange market.

The local currency which appreciated to N375 against the U.S. dollar last week dropped to N381 on the parallel market on Monday.

In a statement issued by the CBN, the apex bank sold $100m to the wholesale segment of the market for both spots and forwards.

While, a $50m was released to the invisibles segment for basic travel allowance. The remaining $55m was appropriated to the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises segment.

Experts have encouraged the CBN to sustain the ongoing intervention program in order to further ease forex scarcity and moderate inflation rate.

“It is imperative the CBN sustain the intervention program,” said Samed Olukoya, a foreign exchange research analyst at Investors King Ltd. Howver, the apex bank must start looking for a holistic exit strategy post-recession.”

The newly introduced investors and exporters’ foreign exchange window had so far recorded a trade volume of $1.1 billion from both the autonomous windows and CBN, said the acting director, corporate communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor.

According to the acting director, this was an indication of the appreciable level of confidence in the foreign exchange market by both the foreign investors and autonomous suppliers.