Nigeria Faces Oil Challenge as Naira Slumps Seventh Week

Slumping oil prices may curb Nigeria’s ability to keep supporting the naira, which fell for a seventh week in the longest stretch in three years, according to Standard Chartered Plc.

The currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer weakened as much as 0.5 percent today and traded less than 0.1 percent lower at 164.62 per dollar by 3:06 p.m. in Lagos, taking the decline since Oct. 3 to 0.2 percent. Prices for Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate slid.

Since mid-September, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been selling dollars outside of its twice-weekly auctions as the country heads toward an election in February, said Samir Gadio, Standard Chartered’s chief African strategist.

Nigeria’s reserves retreated 9.5 percent this year to $39.5 billion by Oct. 2 as the central bank sold dollars to shore up the naira, which weakened 2.7 percent against the U.S. currency in 2014. President Goodluck Jonathan hasn’t said whether he would seek a second term in office in an election set for February.