Naira Stabilises at Interbank Market...See Latest Value

Following a poor run of form in the week, the naira stabilized at the interbank market while losing grounds at the parallel market.

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The naira on Wednesday stabilised at N304.75 to a dollar at the official interbank market.

 

At the Bureau De Change window, the nation’s currency traded at N385 to a dollar, Central Bank of Nigeria controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N564 and N509, respectively.

 

The naira, however, weakened at the parallel market, losing five points to exchange at N470, from N465 traded on Tuesday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N565 and 510 respectively.

 

A senior Economist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye in Ogun, Prof. Sheiffdeen Tella, said that the naira required a continuous inflow to sustain its appreciation at the market.

 

Tella said that the market had been witnessing marginal appreciation because the inflow was not based on production.

 

He said that speculators take advantage of the movement of the naira to manipulate the market.

 

The don explained that manufacturers were also looking the way of the parallel market to source for forex, thereby putting undue pressures on the naira.

 

The sale of the proceeds of Diaspora remittances to BDCs had helped in sustaining the appreciation of the naira for about four weeks.

 

Stakeholders are, however, troubled that in spite of the weekly sale of Forex by Travelex and First Bank of Nigeria  in Lagos and Abuja, the naira was still struggling to survive. 

 

-NAN