Naira depreciates marginally at parallel, official markets

The naira depreciated to N1,495 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.

The current rate represents a drop of 0.33 percent from the N1,490/$ traded on June 19. 

Speaking to TheCable in Lagos, currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N1,460 and the selling price at N1,495 — leaving a profit margin of N35.

At the official window, the local currency depreciated marginally to N1,485.53/$ on Friday — from N1,485.36/$ on June 20.

According to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the official FX trading in Nigeria, the dollar exchanged for as high as N1,505 and as low as N1,401, during trading hours. 

The daily FX market turnover stood at $193.50 million.

On June 14, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the FX market.

Owing to the devaluation of the naira, there have been consistent fluctuations in the FX market.

The FX situation, according to Timi Bomodi, comptroller of Seme command, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on June 9, has made Nigerian goods affordable for African countries.

However, Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on May 29, said the devaluation of the naira accounted largely for the high cost of local medicine production.