Naira falls as BDCs await CBN supply today

The naira on Tuesday felled in value against the dollar at the autonomous market following short supply of the greenback, BusinessDay investigation reveals.

After trading Tuesday, the naira weakened against the dollar by N1 or 0.38 percent each at the Bureau De Change segment of the foreign exchange (FX) and parallel market, respectively.

It closed at N265/$ compared with N264/$ traded the previous day at the BDC segment, while it closed at N267/$ as against N266/$ the previous day at the parallel market.

However, the local currency appreciated slightly in value against the dollar by N0.06k or 0.03 percent at the inter-bank FX market. It closed at N199.31k/$ on Tuesday from N199.37/$ the previous day.

The clearing rates of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained stable at N197/$, according to data seen on FMDQ website.

Meanwhile, the BDC operators are waiting to get dollar supply by the CBN today, even as they demand for increase in the amount supply to them. The weekly supply was recently cut down to $10,000 from $30,000 for each BDC, by the CBN.

Andrew Elueni, managing director/CEO, Flawless Capital Limited, told BusinessDay on phone that the amount of dollar being supplied to BDCs by the CBN was not meeting demand.

“We are not happy over the volume supplied to us. The government should find a way to increase supply in the market. Otherwise, the forex market will remain dull,” he said.

Aminu Gwadabe, acting president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), told BusinessDay last night that dollar was being sold at N267.50k in some part of Abuja.

He does not see the CBN increasing the amount of dollar supplied to BDCs due to the depleting foreign reserve. Foreign exchange reserves declined by 15.61 percent year-on-year to $29.13 billion by December 29, from $34.52 billion a year ago, data from the central bank showed last week.