The Naira, which has come under much pressure this year, will begin its recovery against the world’s major currencies in February 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.
This was the expectation of a majority of respondents in a survey conducted by the central bank, according to a report, CBN Business Expectation Survey, just released by its Statistics Department.
The survey respondent firms, however, envisage higher interest rates from January, March till June 2021.
Companies that responded to questions in the survey expect the naira to firm up against other currencies between February and July next year, the report said.
The naira, which closed at about N465/$ on the parallel or black market over the week, fell as low as N500/$. This was against the N379/$ at which it sell on the CBN’s official rate.
The rise in the value of the naira last week followed changes introduced by the central bank in its foreign currencies remittance rules. The changes allowed recipients at home to be paid in dollars, a move that boosted the supply of the green buck locally.
CBN said it conducted its December 2020 Business Expectations Survey online between December 7 and 11, 2020, with a sample size of 1,050 businesses nationwide, covering agriculture/services, manufacturing, wholesale/retail trade, and construction sectors.
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It said the survey achieved a response rate of 91.3 per cent, with the respondents made up of small, medium, and large corporations covering both import-oriented and export-oriented businesses.
