Naira collapses to N702/$ at parallel market

The Nigerian naira, on Monday, stepped up its downward trend, dropping to N702 per dollar on the parallel market.

The figure represents N10 or 1.4 percent depreciation compared to the N692 it traded last week.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos and Abuja attributed the drop to the high demand for foreign currency in the street market.

The street traders, popularly known as ‘abokis‘ put the buying price of the dollar at N690 and the selling price at N700-N702, leaving a profit margin of N10-N12.

Meanwhile, the local currency is still displaying an exchange of N697 to the dollar on online platform, Aboki Forex.

Last month, the naira weakened to N707 a dollar. It later strengthened to N670 after security operatives raided a BDC hub in Abuja.