By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the Dollar to N450/$1 at the parallel market of the foreign exchange market on Friday, April 24.
This came as the scarcity of greenback at the market segment worsened due to the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States by the federal fovernment since March 30, 2020.
From the first trading session of this week on Monday to yesterday, the Naira has weakened by N30 at the black market.
On Friday, the local currency depreciated against the American Dollar by N20 to sell at N450/$1 as against N430/$1 it traded on Thursday.
Business Post reports that since March 20, 2020, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopped forex interventions, the domestic currency has lost about 16 percent of its value against the United States currency. This is already giving some investors something to worry about.
At the parallel market yesterday, the Naira depreciated against the Euro by N5 to sell at N440/£1 compared with N435/£1 it was exchanged on Thursday. However, it traded flat against the Pound Sterling at N500/£1.
At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) market of the forex market on Friday, Business Post gathered from data on FMDQ that the Naira retained its previous exchange rate against the greenback of N383/$1.
This came despite a spike in the trading value at the session. Investors exchanged $62.45 million at the market window, 146 percent or $37.02 million more than the $25.43 million exchanged on Thursday.
A look at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment showed that in Lagos, the Naira/Dollar exchange rate depreciated by N18 as the domestic currency traded at N452/$1 compared with N434/$1 quoted at the preceding session. Against the Pound, the local currency fell by N10 to sell at N510/£1 in contrast to 500/£1 of the previous day, while against the Euro, the Naira shed N20 to close at N460/€1 versus N440/€1.
At the Abuja BDC market, the local currency was flat against Dollar at N415/$1. It also remained unchanged against the Pound and the Euro at N490/£1 and N440/€1 respectively.
In Port Harcourt, the Naira also closed flat against the Dollar at N419/$1. It was a similar scenario for the domestic currency against the Pound and the Euro, remaining unchanged at N487/£1 and N430/€1 respectively.
In Kano, BDC operators exchange the Naira against the American currency at the previous rate of N415/$1. The exchange rates of the Naira to the Pound as well as the Naira to the Euro did not change. They were sold yesterday at N490/£1 and N440/€1 respectively.
Business Post reports that the CBN official exchange rate of the Naira/Dollar remained unchanged at the interbank market on Friday at N361/$1.
Dipo Olowookere