No respite for Naira as value drops further against Dollar

No respite yet for Naira at the foreign exchange (FX) market, two weeks after the introduction of a new FX policy tagged “Naira 4 Dollar” scheme by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Naira at the Investor and Exporter window on Friday closed the week, trading at N410.05 per dollar. This represents a slump by 0.26 percent or N1.15 when compared to the rate of 408.90 it opened on Monday, 15 March.

When compared to the N409.67 per dollar it closed after Thursday’s trading, Nigeria’s currency lost in value by 0.08 percent, according to data from the FMDQ Security exchange.

During Friday’s trading Naira exchange at a low of N394.00 and a high of N412.

Similarly, the foreign exchange turnover declined 8.36 percent week-on-week to $46.43 million at the close of the trading week on Friday, from $50.67 million recorded on the opening day of the market, data compiled by Ripples Nigeria from the FMDQ indicated.

The low liquidity again shows a continued persistence of dollar scarcity in the country amid increasing demand by end users.

MTN Nigeria last week blamed the dollar scarcity for its inability to repatriate profits to its parent company.

However, at the unofficial black market Naira remained unchanged throughout the week from the N485 per dollar it opened the week data from Aboki fx shows.

Following Friday’s trading the official market rate and unofficial difference remains at over N70 it opened the week.