Naira sinks to N587/$1 at parallel market as forex scarcity persists

Nigerian naira weakened to N587 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

The drop is N2 or 0.3 percent from the N585 it traded last week as dollar scarcity persists at official and the parallel markets, better known as the black market.

Black market traders in Lagos who spoke to TheCable on Friday quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N583 and the selling price at N587 per dollar.

A parallel 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 current parallel market rates of the local currency.

However, 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 the naira/dollar exchange rate.

On the official market side, the naira depreciated by 0.24 percent to close at N416 to a dollar on Thursday, according to data on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Eight months ago, the CBN stopped the sale of forex to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.

The apex bank said that it would channel weekly FX allocations hitherto meant for BDCs to commercial banks.

But due to dollar shortages, some banks have also limited customers’ access to forex, placing a cap of $20 per month for online transactions.

Analysts at Investment One said the FX market would continue to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and policies of the CBN.