Naira maintains slide at parallel market

The naira on Wednesday maintained its previous depreciated value at the parallel market.

It exchanged for N232 to the dollar, a value it had previously traded.

Meanwhile the official rate at the inter-bank window also maintained its previous value of N196.98 to the dollar.

Traders at the market noted that the naira could witness a rebound if activities at the Bureau de Change (BDC) bounce back.

Evans Osabuohien, an economist at the Covenant University Ota, Ogun state, said the naira was reacting to forces beyond the regulations imposed on BDCs by the apex bank.

Osabuohien said the more the economy depended on importation, with the attendant trade deficit, the more volatile the naira would become.

He called for greater interaction between the government and the organised private sector in finding the best way to improve the ease of doing business, thereby growing the economy.