Naira crashes to record N568/$1 at black market as demand pressure worsens
The Naira on Thursday dipped further at the parallel market in Lagos against the dollar.
It lost N6 from N562 traded on Wednesday to exchange at N568 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N774 and N660, respectively.
At the Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange (I& EFX) window, the Naira closed up by 0.39per cent and 0.41per cent against the Euro and Pound Sterling at N484.37 and N567.71 respectively, while it closed down by 0.24per cent against the dollar at N413.07.
The CBN had a few months ago stopped the sale of Forex to the Bureau De Change sector of the market, citing regulatory infractions by some of the members of the currency traders.
However, the impact of the ban is far from strengthening the naira against the dollar.
Analysts at InvestmentOne Research said, “Going forward, we expect the FX market to be dictated by heightened dollar demand and CBN FX policies.”
Money Market rates declined today as Open Buy Back and Overnight rates fell by 600bps and 580bps to close at seven per cent and 7.75 per cent respectively.
The bond market traded on a positive note today, as yields closed southwards on most maturities.
The yield on the 5yr bond closed flat at 10.77 per cent, while that of 7yr and 10yr benchmark bonds fell by 20 bps and 12 bps to close at 11.60 per cent and 11.94 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the foreign reserve rose by $250 million to close at $35.109 billion on Monday, 13th September 2021, compared to $34.859 billion recorded as of the previous day. The latest increase represents a 0.72per cent boost in the country’s foreign reserve.
The reserve has now gained $1.092 billion in the month of September, reducing the year-to-date loss to about $261 million compared to $35.37 billion recorded as of 31st December 2020.
Meanwhile, recent reports have suggested that Nigeria’s foreign reserve position could grow as high as $40 billion by the end of September 2021, the recorded growth in the country’s foreign reserve position could be a positive step towards hitting the projected target.
