Nigeria’s central bank plans to offer $100 million in forwards at an auction on Monday. This is in line with efforts to improve liquidity on the currency markets.

The apex bank however did not disclose the settlement period, according to traders, citing a memo from the regulator.

Traders said the dollar auction would be both for spot and forward settlements and have to be backed by customer demand.

The central bank has been intervening aggressively since February to try to narrow the spread between the official and black market rates and has sold more than $4 billion. In theory, greater liquidity should lead the rates to converge.

The naira was quoted weaker on Monday at an investor trading window, at 381.11 per dollar, data from market regulator FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange showed. The official market rate was 306.20 and the black market rate 391.

 

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