Naira remains unstable against dollar at parallel market

Nigeria’s local currency, the Naira has remained unstable at the parallel market despite the Central Bank of Nigeria injecting another $449.3 million in the FX market last week.

On Monday, July 10, the Naira exchanged for N367 to the dollar at the parallel market, a Naira more than the N366 it went for at the weekend. Last Friday, when the CBN injected $254.3 million, the naira hovered briefly at 365 before jumping up again.

Against the British Pound Sterling, the Naira remained unchanged exchanging at the rate of N470 and traded at the rate of N420 against the European Single Currency, Euro.

Last week, the CBN announced bids for retail auction by authorised dealers in the inter-bank foreign exchange market, following a $195 million intervention in other segments of the market at the beginning of the week.

ALSO SEE: Naira rebounds against dollar

With the intervention, authorised dealers in the wholesale window were offered the sum of $100 million, while $50 million was allocated to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window and $45 million went to invisibles such as Basic Travel Allowance, tuition and medical bills.

The apex bank has injected a total of $7.766 billion into the foreign exchange market since February, 2017 . Meanwhile, the naira have continued to fare moderately well in spite of fluctuations at intervals.

So far, not less than $2.5 billion has been traded at Investors and Exporters window, which exchange rate hovers around N368 and N370 per dollar, with less than 30 per cent of the funds offered by CBN. Experts said it is an indication of returning confidence in the market.

National Daily gathered that the deals in the retail window represent requests from the various sectors in the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), thereby providing a boost to the respective sectors.