Naira falls to N1,049 after CBN restores 43 items

The pressure on the foreign exchange (FX) market continued on Friday morning as the naira fell to N1,049 to the dollar on the parallel market, popularly known as the black market.

This comes a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lifted forex restrictions on importing 43 items.

During the morning trading session, naira lost 0.86 percent (N9), weaker than N1,040 traded on Thursday at the black market.

At the Investor’ and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window, the naira appreciated by 2.27 percent as the dollar was quoted at N759.20 on Thursday compared to N776.80 on Wednesday and stronger than N765.83/$1 quoted on Tuesday, data from the FMDQ indicated.

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Willing buyers and willing sellers quoted the dollar at N799.90 as the highest bid and N475, the lowest bid rate.

Nigeria’s Central Bank said it 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 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 said.