Naira falls at investors window as dollar scarcity persists

Naira, Nigeria’s currency on Monday weakened against the dollar as shortage of the greenback persists at the official market, known as Investors and exporters (I&E) forex window.

After trading on the same day, naira closed at N420.25 per dollar against N419.74/$ closed on Friday, data from the FMDQ stated.

Currency dealers who participated at the foreign exchange market auction on Monday maintained bids at between N410/$, (lower) and N444 per dollar (high).

At the parallel market, the local currency strengthened by N1.00 as the naira/dollar exchange rate closed at N606 on Monday as against N607 per dollar closed last week.

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Total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the Central Bank, was US$1.65 billion in January, representing a decrease of 3.1 per cent, relative to US$1.71 billion in December 2021, according to the CBN’s economic report for the month of January 2022.

A breakdown shows that foreign exchange sales at the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) window, interbank/invisible foreign exchange sales and matured swaps contracts rose by 24.4 per cent, 25.9 per cent, and 60.8 per cent to US$0.14 billion, US$0.18 billion and US$0.21 billion, respectively, in January, relative to the amount in December 2021.

However foreign exchange sales to the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) windows fell by 13.7 per cent and 16.3 per cent to US$0.58 billion and US$0.54 billion, respectively, in the month under review.

To enhance exchange rate management and achieve accurate value from import and export items in and out of Nigeria, the Bank introduced e-evaluator and e-invoicing to replace the hard copy final invoice as part of the documentation for trade transactions. Effective February 1, 2022, import and export operations would require the submission of an electronic invoice (e-invoice) authenticated by the authorised dealer banks on the Nigeria Single Window portal – trade monitoring system (TRMS).