Nigeria’s naira fell to a record low of N169 to the dollar before trading stopped on Thursday owing to volatility caused by the suspension of central bank governor Lamido Sanusi, several dealers said.
President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Lamido Sanusi, an increasingly outspoken critic of the government’s record on tackling rampant corruption, earlier on Thursday.
The country’s forex, bond and money markets all stopped trading after the central bank governor’s suspension was announced.
“The market is frozen right now because no one wants to take position and the fact that the market was already short,” said one dealer.