Business
Naira struggles against Dollar at parallel market
By Odunewu Segun
Despite frantic efforts to keep the Naira afloat through series of interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the FX market, the Naira on Wednesday fell by one point exchanging at N361.5 to the dollar at the parallel market in Lagos.
The Nigerian currency had exchanged at N360.50 to the dollar on Tuesday. The Pound Sterling and the Euro closed N484 and N420, respectively at the market.
At the Bureaux De Change (BDC) window, the naira was sold at N360 to the dollar while the Pound Sterling and Euro closed at N484 and N420, respectively. Trading at the investors’ window saw the naira close at N360.95 to the dollar.
At the CBN segment, the naira was sold at N305.95 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and Euro closed at N410.71 and N360.16, respectively. The naira exchanged at N47.83 and N23.93 against the Yuan and the South African Rand.
Currency traders said the demand for the dollar had remained high in spite of the huge interventions of the CBN at the foreign exchange market.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has spent $3,328,190,000 in forex interventions in the various segments of the interbank market in the first quarter of 2018.
The interventions as released by the CBN from time to time and computed by our correspondent showed that the CBN spent $1,196,900,000 in January, $951,400,000 in February and $1,179,890,000 in March 2018.
On January 12, 2018, when the CBN commenced forex interventions for 2018 in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market with the total sum of $262,500,000, the naira exchanged at N359/$1 at the street market and N305/$1 at the CBN rate.
Throughout the first quarter 2018, the naira hovered around N359/$1 and N362/$1 at the street market with N360/$1 being the dominant rate.
The Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications of CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the CBN would not relent in its resolve to make the inter-bank forex market liquid, stressing that the bank was committed to driving economic growth and guaranteeing stability in the market.
Mr. Okorafor also reiterated that the bank’s intervention had effectively checked the activities of speculators, assuring that the bank would continue to monitor, thoroughly, the activities of authorised dealers in order to checkmate possible sharp practices.
