Nigeria cbank not focused on naira hitting new lows on black market

Nigeria's central bank said on Thursday it would not be focusing on the thinly-traded parallel market when determining the exchange rate, despite the naira hitting record lows on the unofficial market since last week.
The naira fell to a low of 235 to the dollar on the parallel market on Thursday, 1.50 naira down on the day, as dollar shortages persisted, one trader said.
"There is need to deemphasize the parallel market. How can less that one percent be determinant of the rate? Most of those going that way are those that don't want to be documented," central bank spokesman Ibrahim Muazu said.
The central bank, worried about rising inflation, has said it is in no mood to devalue the naira again, after it tightened access to hard currency for the import of a wide range of goods.
Since the measures, the naira has weakened steadily on the black market.
Analysts say the measures risked diverting dollar demand to the black market, worsening investor perceptions about policy in Africa's biggest economy and delaying a decision to devalue the naira to fully reflect weak prices for Nigeria's oil exports.
Aminu Gwadabe, president of Nigeria's Bureau de Change association told Reuters that people were buying dollars on the parallel market to protect themselves against further naira weakness.
On the interbank market, the naira traded at 199.45 at 1210 GMT on Thursday, near central bank's pegged rate of 196.95. Investors questioned how long the bank's rate could hold there, when the currency was trading further and further away on the parallel market.
Muazu said the official interbank market had the capacity to handle legitimate dollar transactions but that people preferred to use the unofficial parallel market for undocumented transactions.
The central bank has spent around $5 billion since January defending the naira, hit by last year's plunge in oil prices.
On Wednesday, the central bank said its foreign exchange reserves had started to recover gradually with its management of dollar demand and government's effort to plug all leakages.
Spot reserves stood at $31.89 billion on July 7, the spokesman said, however central bank's moving average data showed reserves at $29.63 billion on July 7.