As against the continuous fall of the naira against the dollar, the Nigerian currency rose against the greenback to close at N314.75 on Thursday.
The closing value of the naira appreciated considerably as against its value of N317 as at close of business on Wednesday.
The rise in value of the naira has however been attributed to the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which made dollars available in the market to boost liquidity and strengthen the nation’s currency.
According to Reuters, a total of $6.27 million traded on Thursday with the Central Bank offering some traders $1.5 million bid each.
The intervention of the central bank cam after the nation’s currency hit an all time low of N350 against the dollar on Tuesday.
The naira has been under pressure since the central bank floated the currency in June to allow it trade freely on the interbank market. The currency has been hit by a plunge in oil prices, Nigeria’s economic mainstay, which caused foreign investors to flee bond and equities markets.
The central bank last month told international money transfer operators to pay dollar proceeds from customer transfers into local commercial banks in naira, while selling the dollars themselves to bureaux de change (BDC) outlets.
Recall that on Tuesday, the Apex bank pegged the amount that can be transacted between banks and BDCs at $30,000 per week and set a margin for the banks to sell dollar to currency outlets at not more than 1.5 per cent over the rate at which they bought.