Depreciation of Nigerian currency hits all time low on Thursday since October 1960 when the country got Independence.
As the naira was exchanged for the US dollar at N1,000 on the streets on Thursday afternoon, its value fell to its lowest level ever.
This is happening as the price at the Investors and Exporters window is circling around N800.
The naira, which began the day trading about N950 to the dollar, sank to N1,000 due to increased demand, according to currency merchants on the street.
When this article was submitted on Thursday, the dollar was trading for N1000 in Lagos, where prices are higher.
The exchange rate between the dollar and the Naira is N980 to $1 in Abuja and N965 to $1 in Port Harcourt.
Our correspondent today conducted a market analysis that revealed the dollar is strengthening in the grey or parallel market.
Despite the government’s pledge to drive down the price of the dollar to boost the value of the naira, a market analysis by one of our correspondents today revealed that the dollar is strengthening against the local currency on the underground or black market.
According to a currency trader in Abuja’s Wuse Zone 4 neighbourhood named Mallam Abu, the price of the dollar is anticipated to rise over its current level in the coming days.
He claimed that because there is currently less demand for the hard currency, the price is essentially staying at N980.
Following remarks made by the acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folashodun Shonubi, the naira is expected to depreciate in the following weeks.
Depreciation of the naira is coming weeks after the acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folashodun Shonubi said, the apex bank is working with the commercial banks to clear the $10 billion foreign exchange backlog.
Shonubi said, the backlogs would be cleared through different structures within the forex market, adding that, banks, which control 75 per cent of the forex transactions, will play a significant role in seeing that the backlog is cleared.
“As a matter of fact, there is a large amount of the obligations that the banks in Nigeria have already taken on. So, what happened was that, at maturity, they made the foreign exchange available for those who needed to use them like importers and what have you.
“There are some customers who still have their obligations and part of the restructuring with the banks in Nigeria, is also to clear that backlog. That is something we have been discussing for a while.
I expect that we will do that, within the next one or two weeks.
“What that means, therefore, is that this obligation that people keep on talking about will not be left. Today, we still intervene in the market, so it is not as if it has affected our ability to make monies available to banks in the Investors and Exporters foreign exchange market.”
Credits Citizen News
