Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
February 13, 2017
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 5)
The Naira continued to depreciate in the
review week. At the parallel market, naira exchanged for N498/$ on January 27,
2017 and N500/$ on February 3, 2017. Despite the weekly sales of forex to BDCs and
the significant improvements in the external reserves, the naira has continued
to lose value to other currencies. The pressure on the naira has been triggered
by escalating scarcity of forex in the spot market, likely due to
forex hoarding. However, in the preceding week, the CBN sold $660 million in forwards
contract in an attempt to manage liquidity and stabilize the naira.
In the face of growing speculation in the parallel market, the monetary
authority should institute mechanisms that would discourage excessive forex
hoarding among licensed BDC operators. An initiative that monitors transaction
dealings in the parallel market would go a long way in detecting erring BDC
operators.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 10)
Nigerias inflation rate remained above
CBNs bandwidth of 6-9 per cent. Specifically, the inflation rate increased
slightly from 9.55 percent in December 2015 to 9.62 percent in January 20165.
The Core sub-index remains the main driver of inflation in Nigeria. The higher
prices of items in the Core sub-index such as clothing and foot wears are
reflective of higher domestic production costs as a result of the decline in the
value of the naira relative to the dollar. However, in the period, the price
increase was moderated by the stable price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). Going
forward, without any sustainable policy measure to prevent the further
depreciation of the naira, inflation may exceed the current single digit
inflation rate in the near term.