- Naira Falls Flat, Hits $1/N1050
- Apex Bank Restores Access To FX For Importation Of 43 items
- CBN To Boost FX Liquidity By Time-To-Time Interventions
Worried by the continued freefall of the Nigerian currency, the Naira against the United State’s Dollar, the greenback, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled plans to save the naira from further weakening.
The Matrix reports that as demands continue to regularly exceed supply; the naira continues to fall in the parallel market as forex traders are currently selling at the rate of N1050/$1.
Since June 14 when CBN floated the Naira at the forex market, the country’s currency has continued to depreciate against the dollar.
While the Naira exchanged at N776.8/$1 at the official forex window on Wednesday, the parallel market stood at N1050/$1 on Thursday.
To this effect, the naira has lost more than 40 per cent against the US dollar since the mid-June devaluation.
In a bid to arrest this free-fall, the apex bank, Thursday reiterated its commitment to ending the foreign exchange crisis.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market to ensure market forces determine exchange rates on a Willing Buyer – Willing Seller principle.
“The CBN reiterates that the prevailing Foreign Exchange (FX) rates should be referenced from platforms such as the CBN website, FMDQ, and other recognised or appointed trading systems to promote price discovery, transparency, and credibility in the FX rates.
“As part of its responsibility to ensure price stability, the CBN will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market by interventions from time to time. As market liquidity improves, these CBN interventions will gradually decrease.”
“The CBN is committed to accelerating efforts to clear the FX backlog with existing participants and will continue dialogue with stakeholders to address the issue.
“The CBN has set as one of its goals the attainment of a single FX market. Consultation is ongoing with market participants to achieve this goal. Participants and the general public are to be guided by the above”, it stated.
Meanwhile, the CBN has lifted the forex ban on 43 items and also promised to intervene in the FX market from “time to time”.
The apex bank had in 2015 restricted the items from accessing FX from the I&E window, saying they were “not valid for foreign exchange and could be produced in the country. Items affected include rice, cement, palm kernel, meat and processed meat products, poultry, soap, and cosmetics among others.
But in a statement, the bank’s Director of Corporate Communications Isa AbdulMumin said the ban has been lifted.
“As part of its responsibility to ensure price stability, the CBN will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market by interventions from time to time. As market liquidity improves, these CBN interventions will gradually decrease.
“Importers of all the 43 items previously restricted by the 2015 Circular referenced TED/FEMFPC/GEN/O1/010 and its addendums are now allowed to purchase foreign exchange in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market” the Thursday statement read.
