Naira slides to N683/$ at parallel market as FX demand intensifies

The naira has dropped to N683 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market, popularly called the black market.

The figure represents a depreciation of N3 or 0.4 percent from the N680 it traded last week.

Bureaux De Change operators who spoke to TheCable on Tuesday said there is still FX scarcity in the market.

They put the buying price of the dollar at N678 and the selling price at N683, leaving a N5 profit margin.

“Demand is still high, but we don’t have enough dollars,” a currency trader told TheCable.

Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopped FX allocation to BDC operators.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said the black market traders turned away from their objectives to become money laundering agent.

The apex bank later commissioned deposit money banks to cover the expected demand from the public.

The CBN has also consistently maintained that the parallel market represented less than one percent of FX transactions and should never be used to determine Nigeria’s naira/dollar exchange rate.

At the official market, the naira depreciated by 0.09 percent to close at N430 on Monday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

As part of efforts to halt the downward spiral of the naira against the dollar, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) clamped down on FX hoarders and BDC operators allegedly mopping up foreign currencies.