CBN promises measures to halt Naira slump

The Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folasodun Sonubi, said on Monday the apex bank would adopt new measures to stabilise the naira against the dollar in the coming days.

He stated this in a chat with State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting took place a few hours after reports on the purported plan by petrol marketers to increase fuel price over the exchange rate fluctuation in the parallel market.

There are fears that the Naira would trade at N950/$ in the parallel market in the coming weeks.

The CBN governor said the president expressed concern about the impact of exchange rate fluctuation on Nigerians.

Sonubi assured Nigerians that the apex bank is actively working to improve liquidity and stability in the foreign exchange market.

He stressed that the fluctuations in the parallel market are not primarily driven by economic factors but also by speculative demand.

READ ALSO: Naira depreciates futher, sells at N950 to a dollar at black market

Sonubi said: “Mr. President is very concerned about some of the goings on in the foreign exchange market. One of the things we discussed is what could be done to stabilise and what could be done to improve the liquidity in the market and also the goings on in the various other markets, including the parallel market.

“He’s concerned about its impact on the average person, since, unfortunately, a lot of activities that we do, which are purely local, are still referenced to exchange rates in the parallel market.

“We’ve discussed and I have shared with him what we’re doing to improve supply. If you look at the official market, you’ll find that that market has been fairly stable and the spreads of the difference have not fluctuated as much.

“We do not believe that the changes going on in the parallel market are driven by pure economic demand and supply, but are touched by speculative demand from people.”

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