It’s all over! Dollar now exchanging for N1000 at parallel market in a record all time fall
The Naira, Nigeria’s legal tender, on Tuesday set a new record, sliding to its lowest against the Dollar at the parallel market.
Lagos Currency traders, also known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), quoted the Naira at N1,000 to the greenback at the street market.
The traders, on Tuesday, put the buying price of the Dollar at N990 and the selling price at N1,000; leaving a profit margin of N10.
The figure represents a depreciation of N7 or 0.7 percent from the N993/$ it traded on Monday.
A BDC operator simply known as Ladan, in Ishaga, said he was selling the dollar at N1000; while Hassan, another street trader in Ogba, offered the same rate.
Said a BDC operator at the Alade market in Ikeja: “Dollar is more expensive and scarce. In fact, if you are willing to sell, I will be willing to buy, even if it is at N990/$.”
At the official side of the market, the investors’ and exporters’ window (I & E), the local currency depreciated by 4.78 percent to close at N773.25 to the dollar on Monday.
Details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, revealed that a total of $64.14 million FX transactions were made at the I&E window.
The last time the Naira hit its lowest was on August 10 when it traded at N950.
Since the Federal Government decided to unify all trading windows into the I&E window, effectively floating the local currency against the Dollar, there has been a huge gap in rates obtained at the parallel and official FX markets as demand shifts to the former amid a liquidity crisis.
Analysts said that speculative activities were also behind the disparity in the rates.
They argued that the failure of the banks to supply an adequate amount of FX to alleviate pressure in the official market pushed demand to the open market.
To curtail the Naira free fall, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, had said the country needed to address its $6.8 billion overdue forward payments, and shrinking reserves.
On his part, Aminu Gwadabe, president of the BDC operators, said the BDCs were proposing consolidation to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make it possible for them to access more FX.
He said obtaining forex had become difficult for some operators, so merging their resources would make it easier to have the liquidity needed to obtain FX.
It will be recalled that in May 29, 2023 when Tinubu took over the reigns of government dollar was exchanging at N750 per dollar.
Also in May, 2015 out gone president Buhari met the dollar exchanging for N187 to a dollar and today it’s exchanging for N1000 to a dollar.
