Nigeria’s naira eased against the dollar in thin trade at the inter-bank on Friday, failing to react to several central bank measures to support the local currency this week.

The central bank said recently that it will limit forex sales at its auctions to foreign firms taking the currency offshore in a bid to curb U.S. dollar demand and support the naira.

The regulator said foreign investors were guaranteed to repatriate their earnings and proceeds of investments offshore but they could only seek dollars for such purposes from the open market, limiting forex demand at its auction.

“All remittances in respect of dividends, capital and proceeds of investments … shall be through the use of autonomous funds (interbank),” central bank said in a circular to banks.

The naira has recovered from the record low of 167.8 to the U.S. dollar on Monday, after the central bank sold around $1 billion into the market in the space of a week, traders said. But trading on the local currency remains volatile with dealers not willing to quote actively on the currency. The last quote on the unit on Friday was at 164.85 naira against the dollar at 1005 GMT.

The central bank has been trying to save the local currency from depreciating by maintaining it within a band of +/-3 percent around 150 naira to the dollar but analysts say the options left for the regulator may be limited given falling reserves and weak oil prices.

It breached its own rule early this month creating uncertainty over the value of naira at the interbank when it could not keep pace with elevated dollar demand at it auctions.

Dealers say a more realistic action would be to move its band to around 160 naira, an effective devaluation of the unit, which the central bank has said it wants to avoid.

“The new regulations are an attempt to ease the pressure on the WDAS window (central bank auction) and smooth the erosion of foreign reserves,” said Samir Gadio, Standard bank’s emerging market strategist..