Forex Naira stable against dollar as CBN meets over economy

The Naira on Monday remained stable at the parallel market, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The Nigerian currency maintained N378 to the dollar at the close of trading on Monday afternoon, keeping same value as at Friday.

Also, the naira maintained N495 to the Pound Sterling, but weakened further against the Euro, exchanging

for N415, from N407 posted on Friday at the Bureau de Change (BDC) Segment of the market.

The naira continued a downward slope at the interbank segment of the market, hitting a spot rate of N309.84 to the dollar from about N300 posted on Friday.

Currency traders continued to rain counter accusations against dollar scarcity as explanation for the week performance of the Nigerian currency.

They said that activities at the market was slow as industry players watched keenly in anticipation of the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the CBN that was underway in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Mr Harrison Owoh, an Accountant and a BDC operator, said the naira might continue its back crawl until the CBN injected foreign exchange into the interbank market.

According to him, the interbank market has not accumulated enough foreign exchange to meet the huge demands on the dollar and other foreign currencies.

The accountant, however, expressed optimism that as soon as Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) began the sale of foreign currencies to BDCs, the naira would begin its journey towards appreciation.

NAN reported that the CBN had on July 22 issued circular mandating DMBs to sell foreign currency proceeds from international money transfers to BDCs.

The CBN noted that compliance would lead to greater stability in the foreign exchange market; and it would also encourage critical stakeholders in the market to participate fully.