LOWEST EVER: Naira trades at 276/$1

The worst days for the Nigerian currency, naira, may just be ahead as the naira broke its 42-year record on Thursday, trading at 276 against the dollar at the parallel market.

“We are currently selling at 276 to the dollar,” a trader told TheCable in Lagos on Thursday.

Naira traded between 265 and 269 on Wednesday as traders anticipate the “end of forex street trading” in two weeks time.

The naira fell to a 42-year-old low on December 11, when it traded at N260 at the parallel market – the lowest since 1973.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele, had initially cut the number of forex traders at the black market, saying they do not have the appropriate documents for trading.

In a circular highlighting the new guidelines for forex trading from 2016, the CBN said it was going to clamp down on street trading and forbid expansion of traders.

“No bureau de change shall have a branch office outside its registered office. All bureaux de change that under the 2002 guidelines have branches are required to close such branches within 90 days of the 2015 guidelines,” the circular said.

The circular added that for a BDC to be considered valid in 2016, its must meet a financial requirement of depositing N71.45 million with the CBN.

All of these reasons, coupled with the approaching festivities, have been dictating the movement of the naira to the dollar at the parallel market.

President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that the naira – which has been officially devalued at least twice in the past 13 months – would not be further devalued.

The interbank rate, which has been constant since February 2015, still stands at N196.97 to the greenback.