Naira appreciates, exchanges for N900 in parallel market

The value of the dollar to naira fell sharply yesterday with the local currency exchanging below N1,000 at the parallel market.

This is the first time in over a month that the local currency would gain remarkable strength since it exchanged above N1,000.

From N1,150 in the parallel market on Thursday, the dollar exchanged for N950 on Friday evening and below in the morning, gaining over N200. Other sources at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos confirmed to our correspondent that the dollar exchanged for N750/N800 in the morning before appreciating to N950 in the evening.

This was happening in the midst of intervention from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which was said to have started clearing backlog of matured dollar obligations, amounting to over $7billion.

The beneficiaries of the CBN remittances were banks and airlines, bolstering expectations among foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

For instance, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier, Emirates, may soon resume flights to Nigeria as both countries finalise agreements, which may see the Arab country lift its visa and work permit bans on Nigerians.

A bureau de change (BDC) operator in Lagos, Mr Abu Dollar said, “We sell at N950 as I am talking to you. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Yesterday was N1,150, but today, it has crashed to N950 here.

“Tomorrow I will tell you the market situation. Just call me.”

Another BDC operator at the MMIA, simply identified as Mall Ubaida said, “This evening, we bought the dollar at N900, but in the morning, we bought it at N800. It is coming down because of what the CBN did.”

He, however, advised that the CBN should supply dollars directly to the BDC operators, saying this would further strengthen the value of the naira.

In the official investors and exporters (I&E) market, the currency has also been gaining strength since Thursday.

Data from Binance and other P2P platforms also confirmed the naira appreciation in Lagos and Abuja parallel markets.