Naira has crashed to #600/$ under President Buhari Government.
Newsonline reports that the exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N412/$1, at the official Investors and Exporters window.
This online newspaper understands Naira depreciated further against the US dollar on Friday, to close at N412/$1 as against the N411.67/$1 recorded at the close of trade on Thursday, 9th September 2021, representing a 0.08% drop.
The exchange rate at the parallel market slumped to an all-time low on Friday to close at N545/$1 compared to N535/$1 recorded in the previous trading session. This represents a 0.93% depreciation and further widens the gap between the black market rate and the official rate. The slump at the black market comes on the heels of increased forex demand pressure and a sharp decline in dollar supply.
Individuals and businesses have to rely on the black market for their foreign exchange requirements because the banks appear to be rationing dollars. The apex bank’s plan to curtail the illegal market by banning sales to money traders and reprimanding people who profit from the arbitrage, seems not to be working and dealers are speculating the currency will weaken further.
The Central Bank of Nigeria had earlier stated that it is closely monitoring the forex transactions of banks operating in the country and warned them against all forms of malpractices threatening that those found culpable would have their foreign exchange operating licenses suspended for at least a year.
Trading at the official NAFEX window
The exchange rate depreciated against the US dollar on Friday 10th September 2021 to close at N412 to a dollar, representing a 33 kobo drop compared to N411.67/$1 recorded in the previous trading day.
The opening indicative rate closed at N411.25/$1, an 18 kobo gain when compared to N411.43/$1 recorded on Thursday, 9th September 2021.
An exchange rate of N413 to a dollar was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N412/$1, while it sold for as low as N400/$1 during intra-day trading.
Meanwhile, forex turnover at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window dropped by 22.9% on Friday, 10th September 2021.
According to data tracked by Nairametrics from FMDQ, forex turnover declined from $114.68 million recorded on Thursday to $88.39 million on Friday 10th September 2021.
