New Telegraph

Naira firms further against dollar on parallel market

Tony Chukwunyem The naira again ap p re c i a t e d against the dollar on the parallel market yesterday, gaining N2 to close at N458/$1 compared to N460 per dollar on Monday, New Telegraph’s findings show.

 

The local currency had gained N5 to close at N460 per dollar on the parallel market at the beginning of the week, as against N465/$1 last Friday. Traders attribute the rebound to Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) dollar sales to Bureaux De Change (BDCs).

 

Following the resumption of international flights, the apex bank had said in late August that it would resume dollar sales, which had been suspended in March due to Covid-19 restrictions, to BDCs, adding that “the purchase of foreign exchange by BDCs shall be on Mondays and Wednesdays in the first instance.”

 

Analysts note that naira stability does not seem to have been affected by CBN’s unexpected adjustment of the exchange rate on its official website to N380/$1 from N379 per dollar on Monday.

 

The apex bank also adjusted its official selling exchange rate to N381 per dollar from the former N380/$1, an action, that is widely believed to be in line with the  regulator’s ongoing exchange rate unification moves.

 

The CBN had on August 7 altered the official exchange rate on its website to N379/$1 from the N361 per dollar that the site had reflected since March 20, this year. It also adjusted the official selling exchange to N380/$1 from N361 per dollar.

 

Prior to the adjustments in August, the regulator had on July 3, adjusted the naira’s rate from N360/$1 to N380/$1 at the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS). Similarly, on July 7, the regulator adjusted the exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) window, also known as NAFEX, according to data on FMDQ website, by 5.54 percent to N381 per dollar from N361/$, sparking speculations that it was set to officially unify the exchange rates

Read Previous

CBN threatens to freeze shipping, airline companies’ bank accounts

Read Next

WTO revises forecast for goods to 9.2% decline in 2020

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *