Naira Set To Appreciate As CBN Plans More Interventions.

Bukola Idowu:
March 20.

The value of the naira is expected to further appreciate this week as the Central Bank of Nigeria says it plans to continue its interventions at the foreign exchange market to boost liquidity.
The value of the naira which opened last week at N460 to the dollar had appreciated in value to N448 at the close of business on Friday.
This was due to the several interventions of the apex bank at the interbank end of the forecast market as well as increased supply of dollars to the bureau de change market clearance of more BDCs to access the international money transfer operators winfow.
CBN acting director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, gave the assurance at the weekend, saying the apex bank is committed to ensuring that the authorized dealers got sufficient supply to meet the demands of authentic customers of banks.
While disclosing that the apex bank had since February 2017 offered over $1 billion to the interbank market, Okoroafor expressed optimism that stability had been restored to the market, with individuals now being able to easily access forex to address personal and business allowances.
The foreign exchange interventions of the apex bank in the interbank market over the past two months, shows that the highest bid rate was N360 to the dollar, while the lowest was N315 per dollar.
The external reserves of the country has grown by 2.2 per cent since the beginning of the month having crossed the $30 billion mark from $29.64 billion the beginning of the month to 30.39 billion as at March 16, 2017 according to latest data available on the website of the CBN.