The Naira slid to a new low on Tuesday, as investors’ worry about the impact of falling oil prices on Nigeria’s finances shrugged off increasingly interventionist efforts by the central bank to prop up the currency. The Naira has weakened to 173.73 against the USD today from yesterday’s close of 173.35 against the USD at the Inter-bank window.
The naira closed at N173.35 against the dollar on the inter-bank market, taking its declines for the year to 8.4% despite the central bank’s now regular daily offer of US$3m to each of the country’s twenty-one commercial banks.
On a related note, yields on Nigerian bonds rose across all maturities on Tuesday with the 10-year benchmark up 38bps as the weaker naira and dwindling government revenues unnerved investors. Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, late on Sunday revised the country’s revenue estimate for 2015 down by 6.0% to N6.9trn (US$39.9bn) following sharp declines in the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export earner.