Naira races to N1,170/$ on dollar shortage

Like in athletics, Nigeria’s currency on Friday raced to an all-time low of N1,170 per dollar on the parallel market, popularly called black.

This represents 1.3 percent depreciation compared to N1,155/$1 on Thursday.

Naira’s weakness followed strong demand for dollars by end users who could not meet their needs at the official market.

The naira has been in free-fall on the unofficial market, where it trades freely, which worsened after currency restrictions were lifted on the official market in June.

At the official market, Naira on Thursday fell to a record low of N999 according data quoted by Reuters from Refinitiv, an LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) business, and one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure.

Read also: Emzor’s $23m plant to save dollars, save lives

But data from the FMDQ showed that naira closed stronger than dollar, gaining 1.01 percent as the dollar was quoted at N782.68 on Thursday compared to N790.68 quoted on Wednesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the market trading segment for Investors’ Exporters’ and End-users that allows for foreign exchange (FX) trades to be made at exchange rates determined based on prevailing market circumstances.

Read also: Dollar supply drops by 86.99% after CBN restored 43 items

During the FX auction on Thursday, willing buyers and willing sellers offered the highest bid of N986, weaker than N981/$1 on Wednesday and lower bid of N700/$1, data from the FMDQ indicated.