Naira Appreciates Against US Dollar After CBN Rejects IMF, World Bank Reform Advice

Naira appreciated against the dollar after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) boldly rejected the call by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to allow market forces to determine the exchange rate.

Data from FMDQ securities on the last trading day of last week showed the naira closed at $418.33 to a dollar compared to the N419.50/$ it exchanged a day before.

The improved performance on Friday last week happened on the back of improved forex supply at the official market.

CBN on Friday pumped $169.06 million to the official market to meet Investors’ and Exporters’ forex needs.

Godwin Emefile, CBN governor had last week insisted on a homegrown solution to managing Nigeria’s exchange rate and continue with its intervention in the forex market despite IMF, World bank saying it was putting pressure on the naira.

“The IMF and World Bank provide advice that we work with. But even at some of our private meetings, we realize that there are challenges, leading us to adopt homegrown solutions to address them. We cannot adopt what is being proposed; we cannot adopt a free float of our currency,” Emefiele said.

Similarly, the value of the naira also appreciated against the British Pound Sterling on Friday by N6.70 to N536.58/£1 from N543.28/£1

Naira also gained against the Euro, by 29 kobo closing Friday at N450.28/€1 compared with the previously quoted value of N450.57/€1.

At the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment, the Naira gained 0.17 percent or N1 against the American currency last week to trade at N585/$1 in contrast to the previous day’s N586/$1.