Naira
The naira continued its crash against the dollar on Thursday as it exchanged at N450 to dollar at the parallel market.
The latest metric is as a result of high demand for dollar from
foreign investors and importers who are desperate to fulfill their
international payment obligations.
Also, the crash in oil price and coronavirus pandemic affected the naira negatively.
Aside devaluing the naira in March, the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) also adopted a unified exchange rate, and pushed the official rate
of the naira to N376 to dollar for International Money Transfer
Operators rate to banks; N377 to dollar for banks’ dollar sale to CBN
and pegged CBN’s dollar sales to banks at N378.
The CBN also moved the official rate to N360 to the dollar from
N307 per dollar previously and now selling dollar to foreign portfolio
investors (FPI) at N380 at the Investors’ & Exporters FOREX window
from N366 per dollar previously.
But the move has failed to strengthen the local currency which many experts fear could face second round of devaluation.
Meanwhile, the naira is seen steady on the official and
over-the-counter spot markets, traders say, as bidders resist weakening
the currency since the majority of dollar supply is from the CBN.
The bank resumed forex sales last week to help importers and
individuals with dollar expenses abroad ramp up economic activity
following a phased easing of the coronavirus lockdown.
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