Nigeria’s Naira Plummets in Shift to Free Float After Oil Slump
- Currency may extend decline to as much as 300 in coming weeks
- Central bank said to sell dollars to clear backlog of orders
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Nigeria’s naira tumbled as the central bank ended a 16-month-long currency fix that caused investors to flee and sent the economy to the brink of a recession.
The currency of Africa’s biggest economy fell 24 percent to a record 260.5 versus the dollar, from Friday’s rate of 199, before paring the decline to trade 22 percent weaker at 255 by 12:51 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital. The naira was quoted at 254 when the interbank foreign-exchange market opened on Monday, removing the peg of 197-199 that the central bank had in place from February 2015. It could weaken further as trading increases, according to analysts including Standard Chartered Bank.