Naira drops to N161.55 per dollar, lowest in 18months

The naira fell the most on Monday in more than 18 months as the Central Bank of Nigeria held its last currency auction before the implementation of tightened controls of the sales.

The currency of Africa’s biggest crude producer retreated by 1.1 per cent to N161.55 per dollar in Lagos on Monday, its biggest drop since January 2012 on a closing basis.

This brought its decline this month to 0.1 per cent and pared a quarterly gain of 0.6 per cent, the first advance in three.

The CBN will replace its scheduled wholesale foreign-exchange sales with retail auctions from October 2 to curb dollar demand, the Abuja-based lender said on September 26.

The central bank offers foreign currency twice a week to keep the naira within a range of three percentage points above or below 155 per dollar. The regulator sold $300m on Monday, compared with $300.2m on September 25.