BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

Interbank interest rate open the week rising in response to persistent scarcity of funds.
Interest rate on Call lending rose to 11.04 from 10.96, while 7-Days lending closed at 11.46, up from 11.29 per cent.

30-Days and 60 Days lending similarly rose to 12.46 and 13.04 per cent.

Interbank rates have been on the upward trend since March when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced measures to tighten money supply in response to inflationary pressures. The inflation rate rose to 12.8 per cent in March from 11.10 in February. Consequently, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), the benchmark interest rate was increased to 7.5 per cent from 6.5 per cent as well as the interest rate on the Standing Lending Facility and Standing Deposit Facility to banks.

Meanwhile the naira depreciated by 23 kobo at the interbank market as the interbank exchange rate closed  at N154.93 per dollar , up from N154.7 per dollar.

The depreciation is due to the decline in supply due to the long eater/election and the Workers Day holiday which resulted in closure of the official foreign exchange auction twice in the last two weeks.

The pound slumped to weaker than 90 pence per euro for the first time in more than a year.

On the international scene, Britain’s currency lost as much as 1.1 percent to 90.016 pence per euro, the first breach of the 90 pence level since March 30, 2010, before trading at 89.9993 as of 3:27 p.m. in London. The pound also fell 1 percent to $1.6482.