Naira falls to N885 per dollar in parallel market

Naira on Thursday depreciated to a new low of N885 per dollar at the parallel market, popularly known as the black market.

The foreign exchange (FX) market closed on Thursday with naira weakening by 1.14 percent as the dollar traded at N885/$1 as against N875/$1 traded on Wednesday at the parallel market.

Traders attributed the naira depreciation to strong demand for dollars by importers and travelers.

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Naira first weakened to N885 per dollar in November 2022 due to demand pressure at the black market.

The pressure on naira continued at the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) forex window, Nigeria’s official FX market as naira also depreciated, losing 4.70 percent against the dollar.

After trading on Thursday, the dollar was quoted at the rate of N776.50/$1 from N741.64 quoted on Wednesday at the I&E window, data from the FMDQ showed.

Willing buyers and sellers maintained bids as high as N804 per dollar on Thursday, and Tuesday, which was stronger than N830/$1 on Monday, but weaker than N799.50/$1, on Friday.

The market auction also recorded lower bids of N700 per dollar on Thursday and Tuesday, weaker than N651.00 per dollar on Monday, but stronger than N465.00 bid on Friday at the I&E window.

The daily FX market turnover, which reflects the volume of transactions at the I&E window, declined by 34.01 percent to $44.43 million on Thursday from $67.33 million recorded on Tuesday.