Nigeria’s central bank sold dollars onto the interbank forex market for a third day to try to ease dollar shortages after it floated the currency, traders said.
Nigeria ditched a 16-month peg on the naira to allow the currency trade freely on the interbank market but traders say dollar liquidity was tight, leaving the central bank as the main supplier of hard currency.
The naira traded as firm as 281.50 to the dollar, from 284 after the intervention. The central bank has sold around $4 billion in spot and forward trades to clear a backlog of dollar demand but continues to intervene on the interbank to improve liquidity.