In a circular published on February 14, the Central Bank of Nigeria set a limit on foreign currency transfers that come from crude export earnings by international oil companies by international oil companies to their parent companies, to the extent that aims to & agrave; improve the dollar supply on the local currency market

The Central Bank of Nigeria said that banks could, at first, transfer a maximum of 50% of crude export earnings to oil companies abroad. These banks can then transfer the balance 90 days after the revenue is deposited. The central bank said it wanted to ensure that foreign transfers were made with minimal impact on currency market liquidity, while helping oil companies have easy access to their crude earnings. Last week, the central bank raised open market rates in order to attract investors to the right ones, while inflation hit its highest level in nearly three decades and remained below the reference key rate

The naira fell to a record high of 1,606 to the dollar on Thursday after the circular was published. It then recovered to close at 1,476 naira, about the level of the unofficial parallel market