There is hope that the Naira will remain stable at both the official and black market this week as investors look ahead of a $1 billion Eurobond issue which is expected to boost support for the embattled local currency.
Traders in Lagos said the Naira was quoted at N500 to the dollar on the black market, a notch weaker than N498 a dollar last week, and quoted at 305.25 a dollar on the official interbank window, the same level it has closed since August last year.
“The naira is not likely to fall further in the near term on the black market because of possible resistance of buyers and confidence boosting provided by the rising forex reserves and planned Eurobond issuance,” one senior currency trader told Reuters.
The Naira has convulsed since last year as commodity prices crashed, resulting to huge dollar shortage and plunging the Nigeria’s economy into a recession.
The Federal Government had, in September, announced plans to raise $1 billion dollars through a Eurobond in order to plug its N6.1 trillion 2016 budget.
