By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further at the Investors and Exporters segment of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 as the federal government announced the complete closure of land borders with neighbouring countries.
At a briefing on Monday, Nigeria’s head of customs said government has placed a total ban on the importation and exportation of goods through the land borders. This decision has generated mixed reactions in the country.
However, despite the closure of its land borders, importation and exportation of goods can be still be carried out using alternative routes available such as the sea and the airways.
At the forex market on Tuesday, the local currency suffered another depreciation for the second consecutive trading day of the week as it went down by 10 Kobo or 0.03 percent against the US Dollar to trade at N362.63 from N362.53 which it traded on Monday.
According to data obtained by Business Post from FMDQ, the trading platform where trades at the I&E window are tracked, the turnover at the investors’ segment significantly rose yesterday by 254 percent or $55.67 million to $77. 57 million from $21.90 million on Monday.
However, at the Interbank segment of the market, the Naira/USD exchange rate saw neither growth nor decline as it remained flat on Tuesday at N306.95/$1.
Also, at the parallel market, the performance of the Naira when compared with the major listed currencies remained unchanged against the American and British currencies, but fortified against the Euro.
The Naira closed flat against the Dollar at N360/$1 on Tuesday and remained unchanged against the Sterling at the black market at N450/£1 despite the fact that the Pound has jumped to its highest level in five months on reports the two sides in the Brexit talks are inching towards a draft deal at the end of the month.
However, the Naira gained N3 against the Euro to close at N392/€1 in contrast to N395/€1 it traded on Monday.
Dipo Olowookere