Naira ends week battered, exchanges for N955/$1 at parallel market

The exchange rate between the naira and dollar closed a tumultuous week quoting as high as N955/$1 on the black market.

This is according to quotes for the dollar from key forex traders across Lagos and Abuja.

The exchange rate opened the week at N895/$1 before it fell to N900/$1 on the 9th of August, the lowest in recorded history. The exchange rate has now depreciated by 8% month to date as demand continues to outstrip supply.

Asides from the dollar the exchange rate between the Euro and the UK Pound also weakened.

But as the parallel market rates continue to weaken, the official rates closed the week higher at N740.6/$1 after closing at N743/$1 on August 4th.

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The disparity between the official and parallel market rates has now widened to N210/$1 suggesting that the official market may be at odds with reality.

The intra-day high and low were also N799.9/$1 and N738/$1 respectively, also a huge disparity from the black market.

In related news, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), attributed the crash of the naira against the dollar and its inability to manage the foreign exchange market to the diversion of diaspora remittances to the unofficial markets like the parallel.

This was made known by the acting Governor of CBN, Folashodun Shonubi while delivering a Distinguished Personality lecture titled; “Diaspora Remittances and Nigeria Economic Development” for members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 16 at the National Institute for Security Studies, Abuja.

Shonubi explained that many diaspora remittances came to Nigeria in dollars and were not documented officially, as they end up in the parallel market.