Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Naira is now being exchanged to the Dollar at the parallel market at N892$1, Business Post has gathered from the different currency traders chatted with in Lagos on Friday.
A day earlier, the Nigerian currency was traded with its American counterpart at the unauthorised segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market at N880/$1, indicating a decline of N12 or 1.36 per cent in one day.
The free-fall of the Naira started a few months ago due to a decline in the supply of forex into the market and was made worse last week after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it would introduce new Naira notes into the system next month.
This has caused a rush for Dollars, with owners of the old notes willing to exchange them with the greenback at any rate.
It is not certain how the CBN plans to put this under control and stop the freefall of the local currency in the FX market.
Yesterday, the Naira gained against the USD at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the market by 24 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to settle at N445.76/$1 compared with the previous day’s N446/$1.
However, the problem is most customers are unable to access forex from the official channels, leaving them at the mercy of black marketers.
