Business

Nigeria naira recovers after it opens sharply weaker on official window

Nigeria’s naira opened weaker at 385 per dollar for the second day in a row, but it recovered to 361 naira on the official market after two trades, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.

The official market, backed by the central bank, traded in a similar manner on Wednesday, where it closed at 361 after falling 6.2%.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has operated a multiple exchange rate regime used by the central bank to manage pressure on the naira. But dollar shortages have plagued the economy after the coronavirus-induced oil price crash slashed government revenues and weakened the local currency.

Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said this week the country would seek to unify its multiple exchange rate regime to generate more local currency from its dollar inflows and manage the rate in a sustainable manner.  Reuters