By Adedapo Adesanya
The pressure on Naira seems not to be easing as the country prepares to open up its airspace to international flights from Saturday, August 29, 2020.
Ahead of this date, potential international air travellers are shopping for foreign exchange (forex) for different reasons, with supply not able to meet their demands. This has put huge pressure on the local currency at the market.
On Monday, the pressure mounted further, crashing the Nigerian Naira against the British Pound Sterling at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the market.
Data obtained by Business Post from the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), which hopes to begin to get forex allocation from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from this week, showed that in the nation’s capital, Abuja, the Naira lost N7 on the British currency to close at N620/£1 compared to N613/£1 it sold last Friday.
However, on the Dollar, the local currency closed flat at N475/$1 and appreciated by N10 against the Euro to trade at N555/€1 in contrast to the previous rate of N565/€1.
At the Lagos BDC market, the domestic currency depreciated by N4 against the Pound to sell for N617/£1 in contrast to N613/£1 it traded previously and lost 70 kobo against the greenback to close at N475.70/41 versus N475/$1 and declined by N1 on the Euro to close at N553/€1 compared with N552/€1.
In Port Harcourt, the local currency suffered a N4 loss against the Pound Sterling to sell for N611/£1 versus N607/£1 and depreciated by N1 on the US Dollar to N475/$1 from N474/$1 and as well lost N2 against the Euro to N548/€1 from N546/€1.
However, in Kano, the local currency traded flat against the Pound Sterling at N595/£1. It equally remained unchanged against the Dollar and Euro at N475/$1 and N548/€1 respectively.
In the same vein, the local currency traded flat against the Pound, Dollar and the Euro at the black market on Monday at N611/£1, N477/$1 and N552/€1 respectively.
Equally, at the interbank window of the market, the exchange rate of the Naira paired with the American Dollar remained stable yesterday at N381/$1.
This trend was extended to the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market where the local currency was traded against the greenback at N386/$1, the same rate it was sold last Friday.
This was supported by the significant decrease in the demand for the greenback at the market segment yesterday, by 87.9 per cent or $52.44 million as only $7.20 million worth of transactions occurred in the session compared with the previous $59.64 million
Modupe Gbadeyanka