Naira Drops to N362.80/$ at I&E on 55% Rise in FX Demand

By Adedapo Adesanya 

Transactions at the foreign exchange market were bearish on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 with the Naira depreciating at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market. The local currency went down by 30 Kobo against the Dollar at the I&E to quote at N362.80/$1.

Business Post reports that the domestic currency had appreciated to N362.50 per Dollar at the Investors window on Monday, but it was observed that the high demand for the greenback caused the depreciation printed at Tuesday’s session.

This was reflected in the turnover recorded at the segment, which went up by 54.7 percent or $111.84 million to $316.12 million in contrast to $204.28 million turnover achieved at the previous market day.

The declining foreign reserves of Nigeria has also not helped matters with the Naira and figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have indicated that the reserves are almost falling below $40 billion.

At the interbank segment of the forex market yesterday, the value of a Naira to the Dollar remained unchanged at N306.95/$1 after depreciating by 5 Kobo at the previous trading day.

Also, the Naira/US Dollar exchange rate at the parallel market remained flat on Tuesday, closing at N360/$1. This has been the rate for several weeks at the black market.

It was a similar situation for the domestic currency when paired with the Euro at the parallel. The Naira was traded at N398/€1 at yesterday’s trading session, the same rate it was sold on Monday.

However, at the same market window, the local currency appreciated against the British currency, the Pound, going for N464/£1 at the close of Tuesday’s transactions compared with N465 a Pound recorded at the previous session.