By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – The Nigerian naira on Friday broke a historic low of N490/$, in multiple sessions before eventually settling at N475 per dollar in the parallel segment of the FX market, according to Cordors currency tracker report.
Despite the Central Bank reinforcing its commitment to supporting the domestic currency by selling dollars to the interbank market; the former continued weakening at the parallel segment.
According to the Cordros report, this amounts to 7.95 percent week-on-week (w/w) depreciation. Similar to last week, the naira also lost against the pound by 4.46 percent w/w to N585 and euro 5.26 w/w to N500 in the parallel market.
The naira loss was recorded amidst heavy speculation and hoarding of the greenback. To curb supply shortage to the retail end of the market, leaders of the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators met with the CBN during the week and proposed for the proceeds of international remittances to be sold directly to the BDCs via Remitta.
Cordros says as at the time of its report, the naira in the interbank market had appreciated against the Dollar by 0.83 percent w/w to N305.25 and the Euro by 0.66 percent w/w to N361.17, but was down against the pound 0.82 percent w/w to N417.93.
“We expect the LCY to maintain stability in the interbank market, while depreciating further in the parallel segment should the current episode of heightened speculation persist,” the report affirmed.
