Nigerian Naira Falls To N230 Per Dollar

Naira weakened further yesterday to 230 to a dollar on the parallel market, driven by pressure from importers excluded from the interbank market, currency traders said.

The naira traded at 228 to the dollar on Tuesday and was at 220 last Wednesday, the day the central bank introduced new rules curbing importers’ access to the interbank market to source greenbacks to buy a wide range of items.

“The market is very volatile now as a result of the restrictions placed on about 41 items by the central bank. Most importers are now patronising the parallel market to source their dollars,” said Harrison Owoh, the head of a foreign exchange bureau.

The naira was trading at 198.95 to the dollar on the interbank market last week. The central bank lowered its exchange rate peg to 196.95 to the dollar on Tuesday from 196.90 last week.

Currency dealers in Abuja and Lagos told Daily Trust the naira is likely to depreciate further.
Meanwhile, Nigeria plans to raise 50.4 billion naira ($253 million) worth of Treasury bills of 3-month and 6-month maturities at an auction on July 8, the Central Bank said yesterday.

The bank said it will sell 25.40 billion naira worth of the 91-day paper and 25 billion naira of the 182-day debt, using the Dutch Auction System (DAS). Results of the auction are usually published a day after the auction.