Naira crashes further at official, parallel market

The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar crashed further at both the official and parallel market at the weekend as demand pressure hits the forex market despite a 10% improvement in dollar supply, National Daily has gathered.

At the official Investors and Exporters window, the Naira closed at N414.90/$1, representing a 0.29 percent drop when compared to N413.68/$1 recorded a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate at the parallel market closed at N580/$1 at the weekend.

Activities of currency speculators and forex scarcity continue to hit the foreign exchange market as deposit money banks start to comply with the CBN directive to publish the names, BVN and account numbers of forex defaulters.

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Meanwhile, forex turnover at the official window rose by 10.08% on Friday, 24th September 2021.

According to data from the FMDQ, forex turnover increased from $175.86 million recorded on Thursday to $193.59 million on Friday 24th September 2021.

Nigeria’s foreign reserve gained further by $135 million on Thursday, 23rd September 2021 to close at $36.089 billion compared to $35.954 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.38% boost in the country’s foreign reserve and the highest level since February of the year.

The reserve has now gained $2.075 billion in the month of September 2021, while the recent gain puts the year-to-date gain at $714.77 million.

The recent increase in the reserve position, which has continued since the 25th of August is in line with recent reports suggesting that Nigeria’s foreign reserve position could grow as high as $40 billion by the end of September 2021.

Although, hitting $40 billion seems unlikely but it’s a major step in the right direction especially with the oversubscription of the $4 billion Eurobond sourced by the federal government from the international debt market.