Weekly FX Turnover at I&E Window Drops 13.9% to $677.4m

By Sodeinde Temidayo David

The total turnover at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market declined by 13.9 per cent week-on-week, according to a Business Post analysis.

The forex market recorded a weekly FX turnover of $677.4 million in the first week of August, representing a decrease of $109.1 million from the $786.5 million achieved in the previous week (last week of July), official data showed.

According to data tracked from Monday, July 26 to Friday, August 6, by this newspaper on the FMDQ Securities Exchange, last Monday, (August 2), the total transactions stood at $143.2 million.

On Tuesday, August 3, the value of trades declined by $28.03 million or 24.3 per cent to $115.17 million and at the midweek session (Wednesday, August 4), the turnover rose by $11.75 million or 10.2 per cent to $126.92 million.

The next day, the total turnover dropped to $103.9 million and at the final session of the week, Friday, August 6, the value of trades rose to $188.26 million, bringing the total turnover to N677.4 million.

In the preceding week, the transactions at the FX segment on Monday, July 26 stood at $139.5 million and on Tuesday (July 27), the demand for forex dropped to $115.67 million.

However, following the outcome of the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held July 26 – 27, where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a new policy to stop the sale of forex to Bureaux De Change (BDCs) operators, there was panic in the FX ecosystem and resulted in a spike in the demand for forex at the investors’ window.

As a result, the value of trades at the market window on Wednesday, July 28, skyrocketed to $352.1 million but receded to $58.1 million the next day (Thursday, July 29) and jumped to on Friday, July 30, to $121.08 million, indicating a 108.5 per cent or $63.01 million spike, bringing the total turnover for the week to $786.5 million.

On an average basis, the turnover for the first week of August (2-6) was $135.48 million per day compared with the $157.3 million per day in the preceding week, July 26-30.

Data also showed that in the month of July, there was a drop in turnover compared to June.

According to the data, a total of $2.8 billion was exchanged in the seventh month of the year compared to $3.0 million in June, signifying a 6.7 per cent month-on-month fall.