Pressure on the local currency, naira, continued yesterday following demand pressure from holiday makers, fun seekers and school fees, leading to naira closing at a record low of $485 per dollar at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market.
Investigation shows that a total of 2500 BDC operators get dollar allocation of $8000 each from Travelex, a global currency dealer.
The BDCs now sell dollar at the rate of N85 higher than the N400 earlier agreed with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Reacting to this, Aminu Gwadabe, acting president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said, “There is a lot of pressure on the market due to ember month travels and payment for school fees.” According to BusinessDay report.
Nigeria plans to sell 83.24 billion naira ($264.25 million) in short-dated treasury bills at an auction on Dec. 22, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The bank said it will sell 28.12 billion naira in three-month papers and 55.12 billion naira in six-month bills, using the Dutch Auction system. Payment would be made the day after the auction.
Nigeria issues treasury bills to fund its budget deficit, manage banking system liquidity and curb rising inflation, Reuters report.
There was no new development in the foreign exchange market last week as the CBN maintained its daily US$1.5 million intervention at a pegged rate of N305.00/US$1.00. Thus, the interbank spot rate was flat at N305.00/US$1.00. Liquidity however remained a bottleneck to performance of the foreign exchange market with spread between interbank and parallel rates ranging from N180.00/US$1.00 to N170.00/US$1.00, according to a report by Afrinvest Securities limited.
