The greenback has continued to put up an impressive fight against the U.S dollars in the parallel market following the intervention of the apex bank.
The naira closed flat at 364 per United States dollar on Wednesday, the same rate it closed on Monday and Tuesday.
This is despite a $414m injection into the foreign exchange market by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday. The naira had posted a marginal gain against the United States dollar at the parallel market on Monday, closing at 364/dollar.
The local currency closed at 365/dollar on Sunday. The local currency closed at 371/dollar about two weeks ago, having appreciated to 374/dollar from 382/dollar recorded the previous week.
Following the CBN’s continued supply of the dollar to the forex market, the local currency has recorded major appreciation from its all-time-low of 520/dollar.
Meanwhile, the CBN is planning to sell N133.24bn ($424m) worth of Treasury bills at an auction next week. The CBN said on Wednesday that it was planning to offer N28.12bn worth of three-month debt, N55.12bn in six-month bill and N50bn in one-year note, using the Dutch auction system on June 21.
Settlement will be made next day after the auction. On Friday, the monetary body said it would issue N1.24tn worth of the treasury notes in the third quarter, starting from June 15 to August 31.
The central bank issues treasury bills twice a month to help the government fund its budget deficit, support commercial lenders in managing liquidity and curb inflation.
The government expects a budget deficit of N2.36tn this year as it tries to spend its way out of a recession. It expects to raise money to cover more than half the deficit from the local market.
The Federal Government has a series of debt issues lined up including a $300m Diaspora bond and N100bn debut domestic sukuk this month.