Naira fell to all-time low of N993.82 per dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), Nigeria’s official foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, following low dollar inflow.
After trading on Monday, naira depreciated significantly by 25.81 percent as one dollar was quoted at the rate of N993.82, which was weaker than N789.94 quoted on Friday, at the official market, data from the FMDQ indicated.
The FX market recorded low dollar supply as the daily foreign exchange market turnover declined by 66.01 percent (N171.53) to $88.31 million on Monday from $259.84 million recorded on Friday.
Nigeria is making plans to introduce a rash of policies, including a crackdown on illegal currency trading, as it seeks to close the more-than-45 percent gap with the unofficial exchange rate of the naira with the hope of a “fair price” of seven hundred and fifty Naira to the dollar by year-end, a top official told Bloomberg.
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Naira on Monday gained further by 2.5 percent as the dollar fell to N1,170 on the parallel market, also called black market. During the trading session on Monday, the dollar was quoted at N1,170, which was stronger than N1,200 quoted on Friday.
Before strengthening to N1,200 per dollar on Friday, naira had early last week hit a record low of N1,310 per dollar following strong demand on the parallel market, also known as black market.
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Traders attributed the naira appreciation to some government announced policies, which has put speculators into an uncertain state.
The Federal Government is also making plans to digitalise FX transactions and discourage speculative demands and hoarding of FX in cash.
