Naira devalued

Nigeria's government has devalued the naira by 4.6 percent to 90 to the US dollar. The previous rate was 86 to the dollar. The devaluation was made last week, according to PANA, which cited reports from Lagos as saying that the central bank took the measure to reduce the high demand for hard currency at the weekly currency auction of the country's autonomous foreign exchange market. However, some observers linked the devaluation to the recent visit of an International Monetary Fund team, led by its executive director, Michael Camdessus, PANA said. Under a system that had been in force since the 1980s, the dollar exchanged at 22 naira for government transactions and 85:1 for private ones. Since a single-rate system was introduced in January, the dollar had been exchanging at 86:1, according to PANA.