Nigerian naira "appropriately priced", central bank head says

The Nigerian naira is "appropriately priced" and the central bank does not plan any adjustments in the currency for now, the head of the bank said on Monday.
Speaking at a conference in London, Governor Godwin Emefiele said that restrictions put in place in June to conserve foreign exchange reserves and support the naira were working.
Africa's largest oil producer has restricted imports to offset a fall in vital oil revenues, which has battered public finances and the naira.
On Monday, the bank weakened its official exchange rate peg on the Lagos interbank market to 197 naira per dollar from 196.95 it set last week. It was the seventh adjustment since the regulator introduced tight currency controls in February.
It did not provide any reason for the adjustment, which traders said was made through a message. The naira traded weaker in the parallel market to 223. Forward markets, used for betting on future exchange rate swings, priced it to drop another 20 percent over the coming year.
Emefiele said Nigeria should focus on diversifying its economy and needed to manage what little hard currency reserves it had.
"At this time ... the currency is appropriately priced," Emefiele told the FT Africa Summit.
"(People) are asking me whether I am ready or not for an adjustment, and I tell them: At this time, no adjustment," he said. He added he was looking at various options but gave no details.
Since June, purchasers of foreign currency bonds and importers of 41 kinds of items, from toothpicks to private jets, have been restricted from purchasing dollars on interbank markets.
Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osibanjo said on the weekend the country would keep restrictions on foreign currency for the time being to preserve reserves but promised to relax them eventually.
The restrictions were effective, Emefiele said, adding: "It is working and people should have patience with us."


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