Dollar strengthens against naira at parallel, official windows

The naira further depreciated to N1,350 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday.

The current FX rate represents a 2.27 percent decline from N1,320/$ traded on April 26.

Currency traders, known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate at N1,320 and a selling rate of N1,350 — leaving a profit margin of N30.

At the official window, the local currency depreciated by 1.42 percent to N1,419.11 against the dollar on Monday, from N1,399.23 on April 26.

According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the official window, during trading hours, a dollar recorded an intra-day high of N1,451 and a low rate of N1,060. 

Meanwhile, the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), on April 27, announced plans to establish unified retail end FX market operations.

Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON’s president, said the move would tackle volatility and bolster regulatory compliance within the bureau de change (BDC) sub-sector.

“The association will sustain its engagement with regulatory agencies, security operatives and other government apparatus to entrench a secured and thriving forex market that is supportive of regulation and government,” he said.

Gwadabe said the proposed unified retail FX market would ensure ease of regulation, security agencies monitoring and supervision as well as increased market visibility for BDC operators.