By Adedapo Adesanya
The recent gradual decline in the value of Naira in relative to the Dollar at the foreign exchange market in Nigeria is making some investors to panic.
The fret is already affecting things at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the forex market on Friday when the domestic currency neared the N470 mark against the US dollar.
According to data gathered by Business Post from the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the local currency depreciated against the American currency by N2 in Lagos to sell at N469/$1 in contrast to N467/$1 it closed at the previous session.
However, against the Pound, it retained its previous rate of N576/£1 and dropped N8 on the Euro to sell at N523/€1 versus N515/€1.
At the Abuja market, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by 50 kobo to close at N468/$1 in contrast to N467.50/$1 of the previous day, while against the Pound, it lost N12 to close at N575/£1 versus N563/£1 and fell by N24 to close at N537/€1 compared to N513/€1 traded on Thursday.
In Port Harcourt, the value of the Naira dropped N1 against the Dollar to N466.50/$1 from N465.50/$1 and lost the same amount on the Pound to N574/£1 from N573/£1, while against the Euro, it crashed by N2.50 to sell at N521.5/€1 versus N519/€1.
In Kano, the local currency closed flat against the greenback to trade at N465/$1 and remained unchanged against the Pound and Euro at N560/£1 and N507/€1 respectively.
Meanwhile, at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the market, Business Post gathered from the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange that the Naira depreciated by 50 kobo or 0.13 per cent against the Dollar to sell at N388.50/$1 compared to N388/$1 it traded on Thursday.
This was as the demand for forex fell at the session yesterday as transactions worth $37.04 million were achieved compared with Thursday’s $102.12 million, representing a 63.7 per cent or $65.09 million decreased.
At the interbank segment, the official exchange rate of the Naira against the Dollar remained at N381/$1 at the close of business on Friday.
At the black market, the Naira traded flat against the greenback at N470/$1, but lost N1 on the Pound to trade at N575/£1 versus N576/£1 it previously traded and depreciated by N5 against the Euro to N520/€1 from N515/€1.
