(Adds details, background)
By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank plans to
auction 150 billion naira ($489.5 mln) of open market bills on
Thursday, traders said, its second bill sale in a week as the
country seeks to attract more foreign investors.
The bank last month shifted policy to try to force banks to
lend to help revive an economy stuck with low growth after a
recent recession. But with falling oil prices and foreign
investors taking profits, the naira is regaining focus.
The central bank planned to sell the bills with maturities
from 84-day to 350-day, traders said, after the bank auctioned
34.4 billion naira in treasury bills on Wednesday at higher
rates. Last week, the bank sold 100 billion naira in bills.
Pressure has been building on the naira NGN= currency as
oil prices drop and foreign investors book profits on local
bonds in response to yields which have fallen from as high as
18% a year ago.
In a further sign of pressure on the currency, President
Muhammadu Buhari told the central bank on Tuesday to stop
providing funding for food imports, his spokesman said.
The naira was quoted at 364 on Thursday on thin liquidity,
traders said, a level where it has traded this week. It eased to
364 per dollar on Friday, from a quote of 363.50 as falling oil
prices tightened liquidity on the currency market.
A dollar shortage was initially caused by a slowdown of
foreign inflows after local debt market yields declined.
Nigeria operates a multiple exchange rate regime that it has
used to manage pressure on the currency. The official rate of
306.90 is supported by the central bank but the traded rate of
364 is widely quoted by foreign investors and exporters.
($1 = 306.45 naira)