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In a continued effort to stabilize the naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sold $30 million in foreign exchange to authorized dealer banks, marking its second auction of the week and bringing total forex interventions to $77 million. Despite these efforts, the interventions have had limited impact on the naira’s overall trajectory.
During Wednesday’s auction, the CBN sold dollars to banks at an official spot rate of ₦1,630 per dollar. The exchange rate momentarily aligned with this rate in the official window, but by Thursday, demand pressures led the naira to drop to ₦1,675 per dollar in Nigeria’s autonomous forex market.
Earlier in the week, the CBN conducted a similar auction, injecting $47 million into the market at the same rate of ₦1,630 per dollar. Last week, the bank intervened three times, selling a total of $148 million to authorized banks in an attempt to curb the naira’s depreciation.
However, challenges persist. According to TrustBanc, the naira depreciated by roughly 8% in October, bringing its total year-to-date loss to 45.86% in the official market. The parallel market also reflects a significant decline, with the naira losing 30.37% since the beginning of the year. The ongoing trend suggests that further interventions may be likely as the CBN works to manage foreign exchange stability amidst high demand.
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