The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has secured a $3 billion to stabilise the naira.
The Nigerian currency crashed to all-time low last week, reaching N950 at the parallel market.
But on Wednesday, the oil firm signed a commitment letter and term sheet with the Afrexim Bank for an emergency $3bn crude oil repayment loan.
According to a statement from the corporation, the deal was sealed at the bank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
CBN moves to rescue naira, sanction banks over foul play
“The NNPC Ltd. and AfriEXIM bank have jointly signed a commitment letter and Term sheet for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan.”
On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had announced its plan to take critical decisions to reverse the slide of the naira.
The acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, dropped the hint while briefing State House reporters after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The apex bank boss, who warned that the speculators would suffer huge losses when government activates its strategies, said the changes going on in the parallel market were not dictated by demands but speculative attitude.
Shonubi also warned that government would tackle those involved in underhand undertaking in the foreign exchange market including the parallel market.
The acting CBN boss, who said the president was concerned about the development in the market and its effect on the people, added that he discussed what could be done to stabilise the naira with the president.
He had said: “Mr President is very concerned about some of the goings on in the foreign exchange market. One of the things we discussed is what could be done to stabilize and what could be done to improve the liquidity in the market and also the goings on in the various other markets, including the parallel market.
“He’s concerned about its impact on the average person, since, unfortunately a lot of activities that we do, which are purely local, are still referenced to exchange rates in the parallel market. We’ve discussed and I’ve shared with him what we’re doing to improve supply. If you look at the official market, you’ll find that that market has been fairly stable and the spreads of the difference have not fluctuated as much.”
Daily Trust had reported how the dollar crashed to between N805 amd N790 at the parallel exchange market on Tuesday.
It started a steady decline from N925 to N930 that it was exchanged in the morning till around 4:00 pm when news about a possible intervention filtered through to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
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