Naira Depreciation CBN To Intensify Liquidity Mop Up Forex Intervention this Week

FOLLOWING the depreciation of the naira to its lowest level in eight months last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, will this week, increase intervention in the foreign exchange market and intensify liquidity mop up in the interbank money market, in a bid to forestall further depreciation of the nation’s currency.

Financial investigation revealed that the increased demand for dollars by foreign portfolio investors exiting the nation’s financial markets, persisted last week, prompting the CBN to intervene in the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window for the second week, while also sustaining its weekly $210 million intervention in the interbank foreign exchange market.

The intervention, however, failed to save the naira from suffering its biggest weekly depreciation in the I&E window and parallel market. In the I&E window, the naira recorded its biggest weekly depreciation of 72 kobo as the indicative exchange rate rose N361.57 per dollar on Friday from N360.85 per dollar the previous week.