Naira gains, trades N605/$ at parallel market

The naira, on Friday, appreciated against the dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators, popularly known as ‘abokis’, who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, said the local currency gained N2 or 0.3 percent to trade at N605 per dollar at the street market.

Two weeks ago, the naira closed at N607 to a dollar at the street market.

The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N600 and the selling price at N605, leaving a profit margin of N5.

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

Since the suspension of trading information by abokiFX, citizens have resorted to street traders for the current market rates of the local currency.

But the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has consistently maintained that the parallel market represents less than one percent of foreign exchange (FX) transactions and should never be used to determine Nigeria’s naira/dollar exchange.

On the official market side, the local currency depreciated by 0.12 percent to close at N419.50 on Thursday according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Recently, the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) asked the CBN to create a special FX trading window for its members.

The association said it would enable eligible BDCs to access dollars from banks, autonomous markets, and diaspora forex widows at the prevailing market prices.