CBN adjusts official exchange rate to N381/$

The Central Bank of Nigeria has adjusted the official exchange rate to N381 to the dollar.

This is another step towards the unification of the exchange rate as stated in the letter of intent sent to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In the letter, the federal government said it would work towards “full exchange rate unification and greater exchange rate flexibility” to help preserve foreign exchange reserves and avoid economic dislocation.

In March, the CBN had adjusted the official exchange rate to N360/$ from N307/$ and abolished the N325 and N33o concessionary rates.

Bidders at the secondary market intervention sales (SMIS) window now bid at N380.69 while the exchange rate at the investors and exporters window is now N386.56.

The I&E window was created in 2017 to boost liquidity in the FX market and ensure timely settlement of FX obligations.

With subdued oil revenues, the adjustment would help boost funds available to the federation accounts allocation committee for disbursement to the three tiers of government.

Addressing foreign investors in a recent meeting, Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, said the bank is working towards achieving exchange rate unification around the Nigerian autonomous foreign exchange market (NAFEX)/ I&E rate.

“What we mean by exchange rate unification is moving towards the NAFEX. NAFEX is our dominant market for the purchase and sale of forex and it is a free market where everybody is free to sell their dollars and those who want to buy are free to buy dollars,” he said at the meeting.

“That means that whether you are a businessman, a bank, CBN, and you have dollars, you can bring it to the market to sell and if you want to buy dollars, you can come to the market.

“Like some of you must have seen, three years before 2019, we saw a relatively stable forex market because the NAFEX rate and even the rate at which the central bank transacts business outside the NAFEX were substantially close to each other. So, the CBN will continue to pursue unification around the NAFEX.”

The country has operated different exchange rates since the 2016 recession with the official rate set at N307/$ and Bureau de Change rate at N360/$.