Naira appreciates further, trades N530 a dollar at parallel market

The naira has appreciated further against the dollar at the parallel market on Thursday to trade at N530 per dollar. 

The figure is N10 or 1.8 percent higher than the N540 it traded on Wednesday.

Street traders across forex markets in Lagos who spoke to TheCable on Thursday quoted the naira at N530 and 540 to a dollar for buying and selling prices, respectively.

A parallel market (street market) is characterised by noncompliant behaviour with an institutional set of rules.

Meanwhile, the currency depreciated by 0.1 percent at the official market to close at N414.73 on Thursday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

As part of efforts to prevent further slide of the naira against the dollar, the CBN had stopped the sale of forex to Bureau De Change operators (BDCs).

The CBN said the BDCs had turned themselves into “agents that facilitate graft and corrupt activities of people who seek illicit fund flow and money laundering in Nigeria”.

But the Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the apex bank to allow them to access forex at the official market rate to create more liquidity.

Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, said the association had sent a request to CBN for an alternative forex window for them to handle diaspora remittances, capital imports and export proceeds, according to a report by Reuters.

“We are redefining our business model. Instead of dispensing central bank dollars, let us look at being a distributor of liquidity,” Reuters quoted Gwadabe as saying.