/ 20 April 1999

NIGERIAN FOREX MARKETS ADAPT

THE Central Bank of Nigeria launched daily foreign exchange trading on Monday in an effort to meet rising demand, CBN spokesman Tony Ede said. Operations commenced at 9am on Monday, involving 20 leading Nigerian banks and the CBN. The daily Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market will operate for a two-month trial in a move expected to lead eventually to the phasing out of the existing weekly foreign exchange market.Last week demand at the weekly market leapt to $171-million from $88-million the previous week. Demand for foreign exchange has been rising sharply in Nigeria in recent months on speculation of a devaluation in the rate of the naira which has been overvalued on the fixed market for several years.