We won't bow to pressure to further devalue naira-CBN

LAGOS — Amidst a three-day straight slide in the
exchange rate of Naira against US Dollar, the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that it
would not bow to pressures to further devalue the
local currency.
Yesterday, the parallel market segment of the
foreign exchange market traded one US dollar to
N245 after it opened the day at N242/USD1.00.
The exchange rate on Tuesday was N240 and
N238 on Monday.
Dealers in the parallel markets expressed fears
that at the on-going speed of s
lide the exchange rate might hit the N250/
USD1.00 low by next week.
But reacting to the development, CBN’s Director
of Corporate Communications, Mr Ibrahim Muazu,
told Vanguard that there was no need for panic at
the development, adding that it could be just a
temporal reaction to the policy change.
While defending the recent foreign exchange
measures taken by the apex bank to shore up the
dwindling foreign reserves, Muazu said the apex
bank would not be pressured into further
devaluation of the local currency which he said
was the intent of some sections of the foreign
communities.
He stated the parallel market cannot trigger any
economic crisis since all major foreign exchange
demands for eligible imports go through the
official exchange market which has not only
remained stable but has been fully supplied by
the apex bank so far.
Bureau de Change (BDC) operators said huge
demand for foreign exchange began to inundate
them as well as the black market as a result of
the CBN’s shut off of 41 items from the official
market three weeks ago.
But Muazu denied this assertion, stating that
CBN’s findings was that the supply/demand gap
being experienced in the parallel market was as a
result of supply shortages in that segment
following the plugging of loopholes from the
official markets that had hitherto leaked into
parallel market through round tripping.