Following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decision on Monday to release another $100m into the wholesale forwards segment of the market and pumping an additional $80m into the banks specifically for the settlement of dollar demand for school fees, medicals and Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), among others, the naira has continued to strengthen against the dollar and other major currencies, gaining N10 to exchange at N450 to a dollar at the parallel market.
The pound sterling and the euro exchanged at N560 and N470.
At the bureau de change (BDC) window, the naira sold at N399 to a dollar, CBN controlled rate, while the pound sterling and the euro closed at N610 and N500 .
The naira traded at N305.50 to a dollar at the inter-bank market.
In a release by its spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, the move was in keeping with its determination to increase liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
He said the CBN commitment to providing enough forex for legitimate business remained unshaken, reiterating that it would do “everything possible” to ensure the steady supply of forex to the market.
Recent efforts by the CBN in making available large amounts of forex to the market had led to the appreciation of the Naira by over N85 in less than one week.
Market sources belived that the local currency may well be on a permanent journey to its natural value put by some analysts at less than N300 to the dollar.
The CBN had maintained that much of the dollar demand had been a bubble created by speculators and hoarders of the greenback.
The apex bank on Monday had warned market players and keepers of dollars to make hay and sell their holdings in order to avoid heavy losses.