The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday made a slight adjustment to its naira-dollar exchange rate peg, data on its website showed.
The bank adjusted the rate at which it soldthe United States dollar from N197 to N196.95, Reuters reported. Prior to Thursday’s action, the rate had been oscillating between N197 and N199 for a few months.
Economic and financial analysts said the action might indicate that the CBN was beginning to think about how to loosen itscurrency regime.
They noted that the change was too smallto be called a revaluation, particularly in the face of dwindling foreign reserves.The naira had traded on thin volumes at 198.95 to the dollar on the interbank market on Thursday, before two large sales totalling $36.4m were done at N196.95 towards the close of the forex market, foreign exchange dealers said.
The dealers attributed the sale to the central bank. The naira is trading between 215 and 218 against the dollar at the parallel market.
One economist said the move might suggest that the bank was testing out the market to see whether it was ready for a looser currency regime.
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