JUST IN: Again, Naira crashes against Dollar at parallel market
- The improving fortune of the Naira in the parallel market was Thursday halted as it depreciated to N390 against the Dollar.
- The Naira, which closed at 465 to the British Pound yesterday, now trades at 475
- The CBN has moved to salvage the situation of the Naira by easing foreign exchange policies
The Nigerian Naira on Friday, March 31, crashed further to 390 to a Dollar as against the previous rate of N383.
The local currency which also closed at 465 to the British Pound on Thursday, March 30, now trades at 475.
However, the Naira maintained the same N410 rate against the Euro as it was yesterday.
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Dollar to Naira
Commenting on this development, President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe said: “The situation is bad. The banks are not selling CBN dollars for invisibles. They said that they are withdrawing from buying dollars from CBN for invisibles, claiming they suffered huge losses when the CBN suddenly reduced the exchange rate for invisibles to N360 per dollar on Monday.”
Also a BDC operator, Mr. Yomi Olasanya, told Vanguard: “The biggest problem in the market now Western Union. The parallel market rate went up today because Western Union is buying dollars off beneficiaries of remittances at N375 per dollar. If somebody sends dollars to you from abroad through Western Union or Moneygram, when you get to the banks, they will offer to pay you in naira at exchange rate of N375 per dollar, which is higher than what they will get from the market. That is why dollar is not coming into the market. Go and check, most people sending money from aboard now do so through Western Union and Moneygram”.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com has gathered that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has moved to salvage the situation of the Naira by easing foreign exchange policies thus providing forex to cater for tuition, travel and medical expenses.
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Since the announcement, the CBN has pumped more than $2 billion into the market to ensure convergence of all segments of the market.
On Thursday, March 30, the apex bank announced that it had increased the foreign exchange amount to be sold to bureau de change operators to $10,000 per week from the initial $8,000.
It also said that it would announce new rate for BDCs.