Naira continues to gain against dollar

The Naira appreciated to 374 to US dollar on Thursday.

The local currency had a good week, maintaining its grip against the greenback.

Naira’s strength is bolstered by the ​sale of dollars to bureaux de change (BDCs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)​ on Tuesday.

CBN​ had intervened in the inter-bank market to the tune of $482.6 million in the first trading day after the Democracy Day celebrations.

A statement issued by its Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, in Abuja said this was part of measures to underline its determination to guard the international value of the ​N​aira.

Okorafor said a breakdown of the intervention indicates that the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) was allocated $285.7 million, while the $100 million was offered in the Wholesale SMIS auction window.

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window got an allocation of $52 million, while the invisibles segment, comprising Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), medicals and tuition fees, among others was allocated $45 million.

Okorafor said the interventions were in line with the bank’s resolve, echoed by the governor, Godwin Emefiele at last Tuesday’s briefing of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

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