Dollar scarcity has continued to plague Nigerian foreign exchange market. The value of Naira has been on a downward spiral, following the crash in oil prices and decreased remittance from diaspora, thus prompting the Central Bank to devalue the currency.
At the parallel market (popularly known as the black market) on Tuesday, Naira exchange rate against the U.S dollar and British pounds hit a new low, further widening the disparity between the parallel market rates and Investors’ & Exporters’ Window (I & E Window) rates, according to the data from AbokiFX.
Similarly the value of naira depreciated in I & E Window as turnover at the window continues to decline.
At the Parallel Market; on Tuesday Naira exchanged at the rate of N480 per dollar. This represents a decline of N5 compared to its rate on Monday which was N475 per dollar.
Likewise, Naira lost value against the British pounds, as it exchanged at the rate of N610 per British pound, also a N5 difference from its rate of N605 on Monday.
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On the other hand, Naira rate against the Euro remained unchanged at N550 per Euro on Tuesday.
At the I & E Window; Naira depreciated by 22kobo to close at N385.98 per dollar on Tuesday, compared to N385.76 per dollar it exchanged on Monday according to the data from FMDQ. Thus the gap between the parallel market rate and the I & E Window rate rose to N94.02.
During the intra day trading on Tuesday at the I & E Window, Naira exchanged as high as N387.34 per dollar and as low as N380 per dollar.
The daily turnover declined at the I & E Window on Tuesday by 9%, as $18.44 million exchanged hands down from $20.27 million traded on Monday.
The scarcity of foreign exchange has become one of the major issues facing businesses in Nigeria. This was also named by Innoson CEO, Innocent Chukwuma, as one the two major problems his business is facing in Nigeria, in his recent interview.
Several companies recorded huge losses foreign exchange in the H1 2020 financial reports. The latest of these is Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, which recorded over N9 billion loss from foreign exchange in the first half of the year.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
