Panic as Naira Crashes to N495/$1 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

Those in need of the United States Dollar in Nigeria for the completion of their transactions are already panicking as the value they convert their Naira to the foreign currency is skyrocketing by the day at the unregulated segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

This week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) devalued the Naira and the exchange rate moved from N379/$1 to N410.25/$, an exchange rate closer to the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate (NAFEX), also known as the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

This action by the apex bank has caused the local currency to crash at the parallel market, moving closer to N500/$1 each new day.

On Thursday, the demand pressure further weakened the Nigerian currency at the black market by N2 as it closed at N495/$1 compared with N493/$1 it traded on Wednesday.

Also, the Naira lost N4 against the Pound Sterling to sell at N692/£1 versus N688/£1 of the previous day and declined by N3 against the Euro to trade at N595/€1 in contrast to N592/€1 of the previous day.

However, it was a different outcome for the domestic currency at the I&E segment as it appreciated by 50 kobo 0.12 per cent against the greenback to close at N411/$1 compared to the previous N411.50/$1.

The Naira was strengthened yesterday despite the high trading volume recorded, though lower than the preceding trading session by $121.2 million or 25.7 per cent as trades worth $350.65 million were made as against Wednesday’s $471.85 million.

At the interbank segment of the market, the local currency traded flat against the American currency at N410.25/$1 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the cryptocurrency market yesterday, Business Post observed that the outcome was mixed, with the Tron (TRX) gaining 13.0 per cent to sell at N39.56.

Also, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 7.9 per cent to trade at N97,100.01, while Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to sell at N19,014,478.32.

But Ethereum (ETH) went down by 3.0 per cent to trade at N1,350,569.00, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 0.1 per cent to quote at N490, Dash (DASH) dropped 0.2 per cent to sell at N110,499.00, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) shrank by 0.1 per cent to N507.20.