Nigeria’s local currency, appears to have resumed free fall as it depreciated to about N900/$ at the parallel market on Thursday, ending ‘respite’ on the embattled naira.
Metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) reported recently that the naira recorded some gains after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) leadership last two weeks to discuss how to save the currency from debauchery.
After the meeting, the naira appreciated to N820 per dollar early last week.
But most analysts had argued then that appreciation will shirt lived as the fundamentals are not right and therefore unsustainable.
Besides, the supply end of the greenhorn has been deficient owing to rising demand in the face of non exports, vandalization and theft of oil crude.
Consequently, the appreciation seems to be short-lived as the naira resumed a fresh crisis at the beginning of the week. It was learnt that the currency was trading around N890 to a dollar in Abuja on Wednesday, August 23, 2023.
In Lagos, the situation is about the same and even more in some places like Allen Avenue and Berger areas of the city as speculative trading seems to be rearing its ugly head once again.
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The Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the Victoria Island area of Lagos said there is still high demand for dollars from importers and travellers.
The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N885 and the selling price at N905, leaving a profit margin of N20.
“Demand is still high. The dollar has been going up too,” a currency trader in the market, told MBN.
At the Exporters’ and Investors’ (I&E) window, naira traded at N773.42/$1, 0.4 per cent lower than N770.72/$1 it closed on Tuesday.