New Telegraph

Naira slides to N465/$1 on parallel market

The naira weakened further to N465 per dollar on the parallel market yesterday from N463/$1 on Thursday. The last time the exchange rate traded at close to N465/$1 on the parallel market was in March 2017. However, it yesterday closed at N387 per dollar from N386.13/$1 earlier in the day at the Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) rate unification moves which began last Friday, the local currency had remained stable at N460- N461 per dollar on the parallel market until Thursday when it dropped to N463/$1. Analysts said the naira’s weakening on the parallel market was due to traders bidding up rates in anticipation of demand shifting to the unofficial market after the CBN’s rate unification actions.

The apex bank had last Tuesday adjusted the exchange rate at the official window by 5.54 percent to N381 per dollar from N361/$, sparking speculations that it had officially devalued the local currency. Also, penultimate Friday, the CBN adjusted the naira’s rate from N360/$1 to N380/$1 at the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) .

The SMIS is the market where importers bid for forex using Letters of Credit and Form M. It was established by CBN for importers to ease the pressure faced by businesses in the foreign exchange market through sales of foreign currency to authorized dealers (wholesale) or to end users through Authorized dealers.

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