Nigeria’s naira currency fell to a new record low in intraday trading on Thursday, FMDQ Exchange data showed on Friday, dropping below rates quoted on the parallel market despite the central bank selling dollars to boost liquidity.
The naira fell as low as 1,851 to the dollar on the official market on Thursday, compared with around 1,800 quoted in street trading , before recovering to close around 1,571 to the dollar, FMDQ data showed.
Africa’s biggest economy suffers from crippling foreign-currency shortages that have pushed the naira to repeated all-time lows on the official and parallel markets, despite the central bank intervening with dollar sales.
One trader said the central bank had sold $100 million this week via interventions, bringing total interventions since the start of last week to $300 million.
Next week the central bank is scheduled to hold its first interest rate meeting under Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who has pledged to support the naira and bring down inflation, which is at its highest since mid-1996.
