Naira maintains grip against dollar

The Naira on Tuesday retained its strength against the dollar in the parallel market.

The local currency closed at N365.
Naira also exchanged at N475 against Pound Sterling and N420 against Euro at the parallel market.

Meanwhile, Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday injected another $195 million into the various segments of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market ahead of Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, decision.
Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, said the bank offered $100 million of the sum to the wholesale interventions while $50 million was offered to the Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs.
He said the invisible segment, comprising business/personal travel allowances, tuition and medical fees, received $45 million.

According to Mr. Okorafor, the apex bank has continued to intervene in the inter-bank sector, to ensure adequate liquidity in the market.
“The CBN Management is quite pleased with the performance of the naira against other major currencies around the world, particularly now that the forex rates at both the inter-bank and BDC segments neared convergence”, he noted.
He expressed optimism that the bank’s intervention had put a check on the activities of speculators.