The Central Bank of Nigeria has intervened with an offer of $180m at the foreign exchange market on Monday.

The CBN, in a circular, directed the authorised dealers to fund their current accounts with the bank at the time of disbursement, failing which the bids would be cancelled.

Meanwhile, the naira fell to its weakest in three weeks on the inter-bank market on Monday, as demand for dollar by foreign exchange bureaux and importers outpaced supply of hard currency.

The naira closed N157.55 to the dollar on the inter-bank market, weaker than N157.40 to the dollar it closed with on Friday. Dealers said demand for the dollars from importers pushed down the local currency.

Reuters quoted a dealer as saying, “We see the naira strengthening a little in the coming days as dollar sales by one of the oil companies and expected inflow from offshore investors buying local debt boosts supplies and helps calm the market.”

Traders said a unit of Shell sold some dollars toward the end of trading on Monday, but the effect would be felt in the market later in the week.

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said in Tokyo on Sunday that the bank would soon stop selling cash to bureaux de change.

He said, “Seventy per cent of the dollars that people buy from bureaux de change are not for transactions outside Nigeria. They move dollars from one part of the country to the other, in fact, from one part of Abuja to another part. In a briefcase, you can carry $100,000; which is N50m.”

“We are coming up with policies; we are going to stop selling cash to BDC and credit their accounts.

If you want to pay for medical bills abroad, you give a hospital account; if you want to pay school fees, do transfer like everybody else. If you want to travel, do a travellers cheque or get money on your card.’’

Source: Punch (written by Ademola Alawiye)