Traders adjust prices as naira exchanges at 570 per dollar

Nigerian currency sustained its free fall at the unofficial segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Thursday. This came as Nigerians feared the prices of imported goods may soon rise.

Data obtained from abokifx, show that Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N8 to sell at N570/$1 compared with N562/$1 it was traded on Wednesday.

The Naira has now lost value 29 days in a row as a result against the U.S dollars at the black market.

At the same black market, the Nigerian currency also dropped as street merchants continued to meddle with exchange rates.

The Nigerian currency depreciated by N10 against the pound sterling, trading at N770/£1 compared to N760/£1 the previous day.

Naira also fell by N7 versus the euro, trading at N655/€1 compared to N648/€1 the previous session. The situation was not different at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market.

According to data from FMDQ securities the local currency depreciated by 0.24 per cent or N1.01 against the greenback to close at N413.07/$1 as against the N412.06/$1 it was traded on Wednesday.

This happened as the value of transactions in the investors’ window decreased by $181.96 million, or 58.90 percent, to $126.96 million yesterday, compared to $308.92 million the day before.

As at the end of trading, the difference between the official and official exchange rate for the dollar increased to N156.93.

Chinedu Eze, a dealer at Ikeja Computer Village, confirmed to Ripples Nigeria that traders in the market are asking higher prices to reflect the exchange market.

“My brother, Not just me but everyone is making changes, we cannot run at a loss; take for example the last time I imported, I paid N430 for a dollar; now, dollars is trading above N500″, he lamented.