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  • Naira Hits N502/$1 at Parallel Market

    Naira Hits N502/$1 at Parallel Market

     

    The naira, on Friday, fell at the parallel market to N502 to the dollar as speculations continue to hamper forex market operations.

     

    At the importer & exporter (I&E) window, it traded moderately to close at N411.12 per dollar.

     

    The local currency, which closed at N499 to a dollar on Thursday, lost N3 at midday trading Friday, according to data on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel rates in Lagos.

     

    It also depreciated against Pound and Euro, trading N710 and N608, respectively.

     

    Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had made efforts to ease naira against other foreign currencies and unify the country’s forex (FX) rates.

     

    In 2017, it introduced the I&E window to improve foreign exchange market mechanisms, deepen market liquidity, and ensure prompt execution and settlement of all FX transactions.

     

    After its meeting on Tuesday, members of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) declared ‘Operation No Street Trading” to stop the hawking of foreign exchange.

     

    Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, said the market would return to normal as the ongoing speculative behaviour was hampering the market operations.

     

    He also said all market participants would work together to lower the foreign currency rate.

  • Naira Dips, Exchanges For 477/$ At Parallel Market

    Naira Dips, Exchanges For 477/$ At Parallel Market

    The naira on Friday exchanged for 477/$ at the parallel market.

     

    At the Investor & Exporter forex window, the naira closed at 396.17/$ after hitting a high of 401/$.

     

    The Central Bank of Nigeria recently disclosed that it injected $4.37bn into the foreign exchange market in the third quarter of 2020 as part of efforts to ensure the stability of the naira.

     

    The bank said through its periodic interventions in the forex market, it continued to boost the supply side of the market, as COVID-19 crisis weakened the private sector supply chain segment of the market.

     

    Part of the CBN economic report read, “During the third quarter of 2020, total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the bank amounted to $4.37bn, a decline of 2.3 per cent from the level in the preceding quarter.

     

    “This was attributed largely to the decrease in wholesale forward intervention and interbank sales. The total foreign exchange sales represented a decrease of 56.4 per cent, compared with the corresponding quarter of 2019.”

     

    It added, “Further disaggregation showed that matured swap transactions and SMIS intervention rose by 50.8 per cent and 0.7 per cent to $1.24bn and $1.96bn, from the levels in the preceding quarter.

     

    “However, interbank sales, interventions at the I&E window and SME fell by 22.3 per cent, 18.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent to $0.15bn, $0.39bn and $0.30bn relative to their levels in the preceding quarter.”

     

    According to the report, foreign exchange cash sales to Bureau de Change operators was $0.33bn in the review period.

     

    The Association of Bureaux de Change had said that the funding of the BDCs had helped to deepen the forex market and reduced the level of forex scarcity that always formed the basis for speculative activities.