Naira has continued to lose its value, falling to a new low of N800 per dollar at the weekend on the parallel exchange platform Aboki Forex.
The data on the platform showed that the current parallel market exchange rate is N800 per dollar and N890 to British pound sterling.
The free fall of the naira gained steam following the announcement by the the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, that new naira notes would be issued by December 15. Whereas the old notes would cease to be a legal tender on January 31, 2023.
Emefiele said that the issuance of new naira notes will help strengthen the naira, mitigate counterfeiting, “deepen our drive to entrench cashless economy,” He added that “the CBN is convinced that the incidents of terrorism and kidnapping would be minimized as access to the large volume of money outside the banking system used as source of funds for ransom payments will begin to dry up.”
He then advised Nigerians to take old notes to banks to enable them withdraw the new banknotes once circulation begins.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
