THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked media reports it has devalued the country’s currency, the naira, against the United States dollar to N630/$1.
In a statement on Thursday, June 1, CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, described the report as false and should be disregarded.
The ICIR can report that some mainstream media had reported on Wednesday, May 31 that the CBN had devalued the naira.
AbdulMumin said, “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a news report by the Daily Trust newspaper of June 1, 2023 titled, ‘CBN Devalues Naira To 630/$1.’
“We wish to state categorically that this news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright falsehoods and destabilising innuendos, reflecting potentially wilful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.”
The apex bank said the exchange rate at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window traded this morning, June 1, at N465/US$1 and had been stable around this rate for a while.
The regulatory authority urged the public to ignore the news report, as it was speculative and calculated to cause panic in the market.
“Media practitioners are advised to verify their facts from the Central Bank of Nigeria before publishing in order not to misinform the public,” it added.
Meanwhile, the naira appreciated at the I&E window by 0.01 per cent to N464.47/$1 yesterday, May 31, from N464.50/$1 the previous day.
At the parallel market, it appreciated to N760/$1 yesterday from N766/$1 the previous day.
The ICIR reports that the last official devaluation of the naira was in May 2021 when the CBN adopted the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate (NAFEX), known as the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window rate, as its official exchange rate to the dollar.
Devaluation is the deliberate downward adjustment of the value of a country’s money relative to another currency, group of currencies, or currency standards.
A country can devalue its currency for reasons like boosting exports, narrowing down trade deficit, managing sovereign debts, tackling inflation, boosting purchasing power for foreign activities, guarding against currency wars, and controlling negative investors’ sentiment.