In the just concluded week, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the USD at the Investors & Exporters Window, Bureau De Change and Parallel “black” markets by 0.33%, 0.42% and 0.21% to close at N411.67/USD, N480.00/USD and N484.00/USD respectively.
During the week, an effort was made by the Central Bank of Nigeria to harmonise the official rate of N379/USD and the NAFEX (I&E) window rate as it removed the official rate from its website.
Despite its move, the Naira was pressured on the greenback today as external reserves declined w-o-w by 0.39% to N34.57 billion.
Meanwhile, NGN/USD exchange rate closed flat at N380.69/USD at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market amid weekly injections of USD210 million by CBN into the forex market: USD100 million was allocated to Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), USD55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and USD55 million was sold for Invisibles.
Elsewhere, the Naira/USD exchange rate depreciated for most of the foreign exchange forward contracts: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months exchange rates rose by 0.02%, 0.11%, 0.11%, 0.04% and 0.01% to close at N413.06/USD, N416.22/USD, N418.97/USD, N427.67 and N445.50/USD respectively.
However, the spot rate remained flat at N379.00/USD.
In the new week, we expect Naira/USD to stabilize at most FX Windows as CBN has begun the process of harmonising the exchange rates given the report that it longer sells dollars to the public sector at the official rate.
It now sells at the I&E FX window at the going rate.
