Naira crashes to N484 against dollar in black market

The Naira has depreciated further to N484 per dollar at the parallel market, NAIJ.com can report this Friday, December 2.

The currency weakened from N480 to N482, then further down to N484/$1 at the black market on Friday afternoon.

The local currency also crashed to N590 to a Pound from N585 and N510 for the Euro from N500.

This fall of the naira can been attributed to the recent crackdown in the parallel market, against currency traders.

“The consistent clampdown on black market operators by security agents has driven some currency retailers’ underground, putting more pressure on available hard currency,” one dealer said.
The fall of the local currency can also be attributed to the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to slash dollar sales to BDCs by 46%.

It was gathered that the CBN sold $8,000 to each BDC through Travelex Nigeria Limited last week.

This represents 46% decline when compared to $15,000 usually sold per week to each BDC.

However, according to Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, the president of Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), hoarding and increasing zero confidence of foreign investors among others are the main reasons for the continued spike in the exchange rate.
Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the ABCON chief said that the existence of a Non-Derivable Forward (NDF) market in London that enjoyed the patronage of Nigerian companies and foreign investors contributed to dollar liquidity challenge.

“The existence of that market is a challenge to liquidity inflow to our own market,” Gwadabe said.