The Naira has appreciated as it was bartered with the dollar at N490/$ at the parallel market on Wednesday after it had been valued at 500/$ on Monday.
Bureau De Change operators have linked this current episode of the devaluation of naira to speculative activities of some operators but the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) however, have maintained the official exchange rate is at N379/$ on its website.
At the Annual Bankers Dinner conducted by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, addressed the increased exchange rate, saying;
“Like other emerging market countries and countries reliant on oil exports, the decline in crude oil earnings as well as the retreat by foreign portfolio investors significantly affected the supply of foreign exchange into Nigeria.
“In order to adjust for the decrease in supply of foreign exchange, the naira depreciated from N305/$ to N360/$ and subsequently to N380/$.
“With the decline in our foreign exchange earnings and successive exchange rate adjustments, the CBN has continued to implement a demand management framework, which is designed to bolster the production of items that can be produced in Nigeria, and aid conservation of our external reserves.”
Attributing to the unprecedented nature of the shock, he stated it had continued to favour a gradual liberalization of the foreign exchange market in order to smoothen exchange rate volatility and mitigate the impact which rapid changes in the exchange rate could have on key macro-economic variables.
