The Nigerian naira has continued to consolidate on the parallel market as the Central Bank of Nigeria pumps more dollars into the FX market.
Naira and dollar notes
The naira consolidated at the parallel market as the Central Bank of Nigeria sold more dollars to banks as well as bureau de change operators. Having sold $150 million to authorized foreign exchange dealers on Wednesday, the apex bank also offered $100 million at the interbank market yesterday as it sold dollars to more Bureau de Change Operators in Nigeria.
As a result, the value of the naira at the interbank market rose from N456 to the dollar to N455 yesterday as the apex bank cleared the BDCs for a $25 million auction to be sold by international money transfer firm Travelex to BDC operators at N381 naira per dollar cutting back demand for the greenback.
President of the Association Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe confirmed that 3,124 BDCs were cleared for dollar sales this week compared to 3114 money changers cleared last week.
CBN’s acting director, Corporate Communication, Isaac Okoroafor confirmed that the apex bank on Wednesday sold a total of $150 million to authorized FOREX dealers in the interbank at the highest bid rate of N335 per dollar and a marginal rate of N320 to the greenback.
Okorafor said the highest rate of N335 was the same as the last auction rate of March 8, 2017, adding that there was a change in the marginal rate from N315 per dollar during the last auction to Wednesday’s marginal rate of N320.
The CBN spokesman expressed confidence that the pressure faced by both small and big-end users will be totally overcome soon as the bank works towards meeting demand.
It will be recalled that the CBN, in the past few weeks, has been making offers and releases to the inter-bank foreign exchange market in its bid to sustain forex rule supply to different categories of users.