CBN drops N379/$1 exchange rate, adopts I&E window

The Central Bank of Nigeria has removed the official exchange rate of N379 to a dollar from its website since nobody really uses the rate.

This implies that the importer and exporter window (I&E) is now the default reference exchange rate for official transactions in the country.

The I&E FX window is the market trading segment for investors, exporters and end-users that allows for FX trades to be made at exchange rates determined based on prevailing market circumstances.

The window was introduced in 2017 by the CBN to improve foreign exchange market mechanisms, deepen market liquidity, and ensure prompt execution and settlement of all FX transactions.

Nigeria currently has multiple exchange windows. This has caused lack of clarity for investors who are worried about currency risk.

The World Bank has also urged the government to unify its various windows before the $1.5 billion budget support loan to Nigeria is disbursed.

The CBN has been trying to unify the rates and boost the dollar supply through direct interventions. It recently extended an incentive offer last week to recipients of dollar remittances to try to encourage more inflows from the Nigerian diaspora.

In March, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, said Nigeria had moved into a flexible exchange rate by adopting the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) rate as the new official rate for government transactions.

“Within the government and the central bank, there is only one official rate, and that’s the NAFEX rate,” Ahmed had said, a claim the governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has refuted.

Head of Retail Investment at Chapel Hill Denham, Ayodeji Ebo, said, “Removal may be to shift focus to the investors & exporters FX window which has also been the reference rate for the government in 2021.

“This step further reinforces the adoption of the I&E window as this will reduce the controversy on the reference rate to use for transactions.”

On Friday, the naira inched up 0.02 per cent to trade at $410.40 midday at the Investors and Exporters FX Window (I&E FX Window).