Naira tumbles to N435/$1 at official market as CBN adjusts forex rate

Nigerian naira tumbled to N435 against the dollar at the official market on Friday.

This is coming as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adjusted the country’s exchange rate on its website to N413.49/$1 — in what seems to be another devaluation this year.

In May, the apex devalued the naira from N379 to N411 per dollar by adopting the (I&E) window.

Although Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, had dismissed insinuations about naira devaluation, says Nigeria operates a managed-float exchange regime.

A managed float fx regime is when exchange rates fluctuate daily, but central banks attempt to influence the rate by buying and selling currencies to maintain a specific range.

Checks by TheCable showed that the local currency, which opened trading at an indicative price of N420.67 to a dollar, dropped to N435 at the end of Friday’s trading, according to FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

The naira was quoted as high as N445.50 per dollar during the intra-day trading.

Nwanisobi Osita, spokesperson of the CBN, told TheCable that the market determines the exchange rate.

“If you see N413, then that’s what it is. The market determines the rate,” Osita said.

The apex bank has devalued the exchange rate multiple times since March 2020 as it strives to bridge the disparity between the official and parallel market rates.

At the parallel market, the local currency stabled at N570 to a dollar.