Naira depreciates further, exchanges for N766/$ at parallel market

The naira, on Wednesday, depreciated further against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market.

Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), popularly known as ‘abokis’, who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, quoted the naira at N766 to the dollar at the street market.

The figure signifies a N10 or 1.3 percent slip compared to the N756 it traded three weeks ago — further widening the gap between parallel and official rates.

The street traders put the buying price of the dollar at N758 and the selling price at N766, leaving a N8 profit margin.

Some of the traders attributed the depreciation of the naira against the greenback to increased demand by customers amid low supply of dollars.

Asked for the reason behind the naira’s fall, a BDC operator in the Victoria Island area of Lagos, said, “The rate keeps going up. There is high demand in the market. It has even come down a bit. Some people sold for N780/$ yesterday.”

Meanwhile, the local currency appreciated by 0.04 percent at the official market to close at N461.33/$ on Tuesday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Nigerians are currently battling with a scarcity of naira notes following the federal government’s redesign of N200, N500, and N1000 notes.

Protests have also rocked many parts of the country over the currency scarcity.

Earlier on Wednesday, the supreme court adjourned a case instituted by the state governments against the federal gvernment challenging the implementation of the naira redesign to March 3.