Naira continues free fall, hits N815/$ at parallel market

The naira has continued its free fall in the parallel market, depreciating to N815 per dollar in Abuja on Monday.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the Wuse area of Abuja, who spoke to TheCable, said the naira was falling rapidly against the greenback amid increased demand by Nigerians.

This development comes a few days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it has redesigned some naira notes and will start circulating them by December 2022.

The apex bank had explained that it took the decision to reduce excess cash in circulation and check counterfeiting.

Meanwhile, currency traders in the Victoria Island area of Lagos quoted the naira at N805 to the dollar at the street market.

The figure represents a depreciation of N63 or 8.5 percent compared to the N742 it traded two weeks ago.

The street traders put the buying price of the dollar on Monday at N785 and the selling price at N805, leaving a N20 profit margin.

“There is always high demand and no supply. The dollar is just going up everyday. Importers are not getting dollars from banks. So, they are coming to us,” a BDC operator told TheCable.

At the official market, the naira depreciated by 0.06 percent against the dollar to close at N444.75 on Friday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria.

An exchange rate of N447 to the dollar was the highest rate recorded within the day’s trading before it settled at N444.75.

It sold for as low as N438 to the dollar within the day’s trading. A total of $61.89 million was traded in foreign exchange at the official investors and exporters window (I & E) window.