NAIRA SLUMPS FURTHER, EXCHANGES FOR 473/$
THE naira suffered further setback at the parallel market and Investors and Exporters forex window on Tuesday. The President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, has blamed the recent depreciation of naira on the speculators’ onslaught and resistance by the banking industry.
According to figures obtained from Bureau De Change operators, the naira exchanged to the dollar for 473/$ at the parallel market.
It had earlier gained in recent times after it closed the year 2020 at 467/$.
At the I&E window, the naira fell by 0.17 per cent to close at 394/$ on Tuesday.
It reached a low of 401 at the I&E window at the close of 2020. The Central Bank of Nigeria however maintained the official exchange rate at N379/$ on its website.
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria recently appealed to the CBN to make BDCs payout agents for diaspora remittances. And Gwadabe said on Saturday in Lagos that the refusal of some banks to sell the invisibles such as personal and business travel allowances frustrated naira recovery.
The ABCON chief said that the CBN had recently accused the banks of frustrating its policies.
He said it was ironical that the naira started losing strength in spite of the CBN’s review of the rates from N375 to N360 to a dollar.
According to him, the naira started trading on Monday with a promising outlook for sustained strength against the dollar and other currencies, but it began to fall at the middle of the week.
“The naira ended deeper northward to close at N394 to a dollar on Friday, translating to 10 percent depreciation of what was recorded during the week,’’ Gwadabe said.
The association president said that the removal of disparity in applicable exchange rates among the BDCs, Travelex and the banks should have strengthened the nation’s currency.
The financial expert said, “CBN’s knack for last minute solution as recent development has shown, accounted for the misfortune of the naira at the foreign exchange market.’’
Gwadabe said that the battle for the soul of the naira would be won if the CBN could boost liquidity to the BDCs for the effective unification of rates.
“It is evident that the injection of liquidity to the interbank market rather than the BDC sub-sector is not effective and transparent for sustained
“The naira ended deeper northward to close at N394 to a dollar on Friday, translating to 10 percent depreciation of what was recorded during the week,’’