By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira put up a weak performance against the three major foreign currencies traded at the parallel arm of the foreign exchange (forex) market in the country on Wednesday.
Business Post reports that at the close of transactions, the value of the local currency against the United States Dollar, the British Pound Sterling and the Euro currency of the European Union (UN) member states depreciated at the black market.
The domestic currency declined by N3 against the British legal tender yesterday to trade at N480/£1, in contrast to N477/€1 it was quoted at two previous sessions in the week.
The value of the Naira against the Pound Sterling has been going down lately after it is very certain now that the United Kingdom will eventually leave the EU next month.
This followed outcome of last Thursday’s national election, which gave the Conservative Party of the Prime Minister, Mr Boris Johnson, a majority in the parliament, paving way for him to easily lead the UK out of the EU by January 31, 2020, a move his predecessor, Mrs Theresa May, could not achieve. The Pound Sterling has been waxing stronger since the last election against other currencies at the FX market.
When paired with the Euro, the local currency depreciated yesterday by N2 at the black market to quote at N400/€1 compared with N398/€1 it was exchanged the previous session.
Also, at the parallel market on Wednesday, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the US Dollar by N1 as the House of Representatives was preparing to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstructing the parliament from carrying out its duties. The Naira closed at the midweek session while this was going on at N363/$1 in contrast to N363/$1 it traded on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at the interbank segment of the market, which is the official window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Naira traded against the Dollar at N306.95, the same rate it was sold on Tuesday.
However, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment, the Naira depreciated further by 0.02 percent or 9 Kobo to trade at N363.70/$1 compared with N362.61/$1 it traded at the previous session.
The decline was mainly influence in the shortage of FX to meet the high demand of customers at the window. This was reflected in the turnover recorded at the segment during the midweek trading day.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the value of trades at the I&E segment yesterday increased by 593 percent or $513.83 million to $600.45 million from the $86.62 million achieved on Tuesday.
Dipo Olowookere