The Naira Is Crashing Against dollar

Nigeria’s currency, the naira is losing the momentum it was gathering against the dollar.

The development follows lack of dollar sale by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Monday

The naira has had a somewhat steady rise since February this year after the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN started a weekly intervention in the foreign exchange market.

But on Tuesday, the naira nosedived.

It depreciated against the United States dollar at the parallel market to 370, down from 368/dollar on Monday.

The Naira had closed at 367/dollar on Friday.

The development follows lack of dollar sale by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Monday. The CBN has been supplying dollar to the forex market through intervention on Mondays in the last few weeks. The exchange rate had hovered between 363 to 365/dollar.

Economic experts say unless the CBN maintains its weekly supply of forex into the market, it might find it difficult to keep the naira below 370/dollar.

Stakeholders expect the regulator to announce the sale of dollar before the week runs out.

Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office has said it is planning to raise 135 billion in bonds on August 23.

The DMO said on Tuesday that it would sell 35 billion worth of bonds due in 2021 and 50 billion each of bonds due in 2027 and in 2037, using the Dutch auction system.