In spite of economic realities, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for obvious reasons, is trying hard to avoid another devaluation of the naira. Consequently, it imposed further restrictions on the foreign exchange market by excluding 41 products and services from purchase of dollars from the nation’s foreign exchange market.

ABUJA: The Federal Government, disclosed weekend, that it received a grant of €170 million from the Agence Francaise Development, AFD, to build power transmission network in the Federal Capital territory, FCT, and its neighbouring Nasarawa State. The French agency also made a donation to the tune of $200million towards the expansion of electricity transmission grid in Lagos State.

CBN is aware of the plight of the depositors of the bank but cannot take any action for now to ameliorate their suffering. The second revelation which is also a fall out from the above is that, the depositors of Savannah Bank can prompt a change in the situation by taking action. For example, the depositors can approach the Bank Customer Association of Nigeria (BCAN) for advice and assistance to engage with the CBN and owners of the Savannah Bank.

The Naira on Friday at the parallel market depreciated against three international currencies at the close of trading for the week. A on Friday in Lagos showed that the Naira depreciated by N1 or 0.45 per cent against the dollar due to high demand. It sold for N221 against the dollar from the N220 it sold on Monday, June 15.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the exchange rate of the naira to a dollar is N196.9 while in the black market it hovers between N210 to N214 to a dollar. Similarly, British Pound Sterling exchanges between N303 to N304 to the Naira, while thed Euro exchanges for N222.