Naira firms on black market as CBN boosts dollar sale

 

 

NAIRA firmed strongly on the black market on Thursday as traders prepared for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the dollar supply for exchange bureaux to keep the official retail rate higher.
The black market rate strengthened 1.27 percent to N395 to a dollar.
The CBN plans to sell $20,000 each to bureaux de change operators on Thursday, the operators’ association president, Aminu Gwadabe, told Reuters. It sold $20,000 each earlier this week to boost liquidity.
The bank has been intervening on the official market to try to narrow the currency’s spread with the black market rate. On the official market, the currency was quoted at 315 on Thursday.
The spread has become far narrower thanks to central bank intervention. It was 520 to the dollar on the black market in February after the bank devalued the naira for retail customers to N375.
February’s move effectively created multiple exchange rate, including official, black market and one to pay for education.