CBN adjusts rate as naira falls to 244

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday adjusted
its exchange rate peg to N197 against the United
States’ dollar from the N196.95 it set last week,
data on the bank’s website showed.
This came on the heels of a further decline in
naira to 243 against the dollar at the parallel
market on Thursday.
The persistent decline of the naira in the parallel
market followed the introduction of new measures
by the central bank last month, restricting access
to hard currency at the interbank in a bid to
conserve dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
The forex rate adjustment on Thursday was the
fifth since the CBN introduced tight controls on
the forex market in February, Reuters reported.
The bank said at the time that it would sell
dollars only at N198 to customers through the
interbank based on direct orders by banks.
The naira traded at 199.50 to the dollar on the
interbank market on Thursday, compared to the
197 per dollar rate at which it closed on
Wednesday.