LAGOS, FEBRUARY 21, 2017 – The central bank of Nigeria will sell $500 million on a 60-day forward contract to help boost dollar liquidity on the interbank market, traders said on Tuesday, a day after it effectively devalued the naira for retail currency transactions.
The central bank said the special intervention will be via a “wholesale bid” whereby commercial lenders will apply for a particular dollar amount as opposed to submitting individual customer demand.
Lenders will then allocate the U.S. currency to their customers, the central bank said in a mail to commercial banks, asking them to maintain the bid spread of 0.50 naira.
