Naira strengthens ahead dollar allocation to BDCS Monday

Nigeria’s currency at the weekend appreciated by N0.67k as the dollar traded at an average rate of N464.33k from N465 traded on Friday on the black market.

The naira appreciation is as a result of slow down in demand for the greenback by the end users. This was ahead of the dollar allocation to about 5,000 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday, September 21, 2020 (today).

Investigations show that while currency traders across Lagos parallel markets buy dollars from individuals at N460, they sell at N464 and N465 to the end users.

“We expect naira to stabilise against the USD, especially at the Bureau De Change market, amid CBN’S increasing capacity to intervene; hence, the positive impact could trickle down to the parallel (black) window,” analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited said.

The external reserves moved northward in the month of September – rising by 0.42% to $35.81 billion as at September 17, 2020 up from $35.66 billion.

The price of Brent crude, which has fallen to below $20 per barrel in March 2020 is gradually recovering as it stood at $43.13 per barrel as at September 18, 2020.

Naira fell by N6 as the dollar was sold at N466 on Friday from N460 on Thursday at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market.

The daily forex turnover declined further by 4.43 percent to $83.35 million on Friday from $87.78 million recorded on Thursday at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, data from FMDQ revealed.