The naira has continued to depreciate for the past month, after the Central Bank recent adjustment of its official rate in order to contain the impact of an oil price crash triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
As the demand for the dollar rises, the naira slid by 15 per cent to operate at N430 per dollar last month at the black market, for the first time in three years, far weaker than its official rate of N380 per dollar.
It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria recently injected about N1 trillion stimulus to support the fragile economy and slash interest rates on soft loans to selected sectors of the economy. It is, however, not yet known how the CBN plans to support such interventions.
In the wake of the COVID-19, the Federal Government of Nigeria recently made a plea for about $3.4 billion in emergency financing from the International Monetary Fund to neutralize the negative impacts of the pandemic, amid low oil prices.