Dollar falls to N490 on CBN action

The Nigerian naira on Thursday recovered to N490 per dollar, as the fresh policy action from the Central Bank of Nigeria finds its foothold.

A bureau de change operator, who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, said the naira recovered drastically from 515 per dollar on Wednesday, to 490 on Thursday morning.

Ibrahim Baba, a trader in Abuja, the nation’s capital, said the local  currency is trading 498 to the greenback at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

On Monday, the CBN introduced a new policy action, which mandates banks to open sales point at major airports across the country, in a  bid to halt forex scarcity for travellers.

“In order to further ease the burden of travellers and ensure that transactions are settled at much more competitive exchange rates, the CBN hereby directs all banks to open FX retail outlets at major airports as soon as logistics permit,” CBN said.

The CBN, in its guidelines for the new policy, revealed that every Nigerian, 18 years or older, can access $16,000 per year for personal  travels, and $15,000 per term for school fees.

About 24 hours after the CBN unveiled the policy, the bank went on to inject $370.9 million into the interbank foreign exchange market.

The policy action has also seen the pound sterling and euro, fall at the parallel market to N615 and N505 respectively.