The foreign exchange market opened on Monday with Nigeria’s currency losing N1.00k as the dollar was trading at N483 compared to N482 traded on Friday on the black market.
Naira depreciation is attributed to increased demand fuelled by speculators. Aminu Gwadabe, president of Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said forex speculators are taking huge risks with their funds.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has enough financial muscle to defend the naira and close the widening gaps between official and parallel market rates.
Nigeria’s external reserves have declined to $35.5 billion as of November 19, 2020, according to the data on the CBN website.
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At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange the market, naira weakened by N2 as the dollar was selling for N480 on Monday as against N478 last week.
The market opened with an indicative rate of N386.05k at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window on Monday. This signals N0.18k appreciation, when compared with N386.23k, opened with on Friday, data from the FMDQ showed.
