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LequteMan
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Nigeria- The Naira touched a record low against the dollar yesterday, the day after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele announced its devaluation.
The CBN devalued the naira by 8 per cent and raised interest rates sharply, trying to stem losses to its foreign reserves spent defending the currency as the price of oil – Nigeria’s dominant export – slides on global markets.
The naira fell to a record low of N178.85 to the dollar, shortly after the market opened, but rebounded by around 1 per cent to N176.35 after two oil companies sold dollars. Nevertheless, that was still just below the new target band of 5 per cent either side of N168 to the $1, announced by Emefiele.
The exchange rate for the dollar in Abuja “black market’’ on Wednesday stood at between N182 and N186, an investigation by a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent found.
On Lagos Island and at Ikeja, the state capital, $1 sold for above N180.
This is against the official exchange rate of N168.
The NAN correspondent, who checked near the Sheraton Hotel, Zone 4, Abuja, the rendezvous for most black market operators, found that the closest naira exchange to the official exchange rate was N182.
Some of the operators said the difference between their rate and the official rate was to accommodate the “extra charges’’ they pay to “dealers’’ they get the hard currency from.
A black market operator, Alhaji Usman Gongola, told NAN that he sold one dollar at N186 and bought one dollar for N183.
Another operator, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi, said he sold at N184 and bought one dollar for N182.
Alhaji Mohammed Bichi sold one dollar at N182 and bought one dollar for N181.
Trading in the next few days will test whether financial markets believe the new target is realistic for Nigeria contending with a 30 per cent fall in world oil prices since June. The country is also battling with insurgency in the Northeast.
Economists welcomed Emefiele’s action as accepting the reality of the naira’s sliding value – in common with the currencies of other oil exporters, such as Russia, in trading between commercial banks.
#Nigeria #Naira
The CBN devalued the naira by 8 per cent and raised interest rates sharply, trying to stem losses to its foreign reserves spent defending the currency as the price of oil – Nigeria’s dominant export – slides on global markets.
The naira fell to a record low of N178.85 to the dollar, shortly after the market opened, but rebounded by around 1 per cent to N176.35 after two oil companies sold dollars. Nevertheless, that was still just below the new target band of 5 per cent either side of N168 to the $1, announced by Emefiele.
The exchange rate for the dollar in Abuja “black market’’ on Wednesday stood at between N182 and N186, an investigation by a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent found.
On Lagos Island and at Ikeja, the state capital, $1 sold for above N180.
This is against the official exchange rate of N168.
The NAN correspondent, who checked near the Sheraton Hotel, Zone 4, Abuja, the rendezvous for most black market operators, found that the closest naira exchange to the official exchange rate was N182.
Some of the operators said the difference between their rate and the official rate was to accommodate the “extra charges’’ they pay to “dealers’’ they get the hard currency from.
A black market operator, Alhaji Usman Gongola, told NAN that he sold one dollar at N186 and bought one dollar for N183.
Another operator, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi, said he sold at N184 and bought one dollar for N182.
Alhaji Mohammed Bichi sold one dollar at N182 and bought one dollar for N181.
Trading in the next few days will test whether financial markets believe the new target is realistic for Nigeria contending with a 30 per cent fall in world oil prices since June. The country is also battling with insurgency in the Northeast.
Economists welcomed Emefiele’s action as accepting the reality of the naira’s sliding value – in common with the currencies of other oil exporters, such as Russia, in trading between commercial banks.
#Nigeria #Naira