ABUJA – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will on Wednesday release the Flexible Exchange Rate Guideline.
The apex bank’s director of communication, Mr. Isaac Okorafor made this know on Tuesday.
As part of the new policy the CBN will allow market forces determine the exchange rate between the naira and other currencies but may retain a small intervention window to allow it intervene in some instances ‘critical’ to the nation’s economic growth and will apply foreign exchange at an adjustable rate between N230-N250 depending on the rate at the market.
“The naira will be officially devalued tomorrow and going forward the exchange rate will be market-driven as done anywhere else in the world,” a source in the bank said.
The CBN had set the official rate at between N197-N199 but the scarcity of foreign exchange due to the crash in the global price of crude oil, which accounts for the bulk of the nation’s foreign exchange inflow has forced the naira down at the parallel market (black market) to between N365-N370, mostly due to speculative trading in anticipation of the implementation of the new policy.
