On Wednesday’s parallel market, the naira strengthened further versus the US dollar, closing at 850/dollar.
A planned intervention in the foreign exchange market by the Central Bank of Nigeria was disclosed two days before this.
On Monday, the naira was exchanged at 950 to the dollar in the black market. It increased even more on Tuesday and ended the day at 915/dollars.
The PUNCH reports Alh Taofeek Ahmed, a Bureau de Change employee, saying on Wednesday, “We bought and sold the naira at 830/$ and 850/$ today. Compared to last week, there was less demand.
Alhaji Mustapha Umar, a different BDC employee at the Lagos airport, claimed that the dollar’s exchange rate was 850 to 1 and 835 to 1.
Aminu Zakari, a BDC operator in the Abuja Central Business District, claimed to have bought and sold dollars for 860 and 845 respectively.
He claims that there has been confusion in the parallel market segment after the CBN’s statement.
Operators, he claimed, were looking forward to the central bank’s impending action.
Trading started at N781.66/$ at the Investor & Exporter forex window and reached a high of N799,90/$ before ending at N759,86/$ on Wednesday; it ended at N781,30/$ on Tuesday.
The CBN’s acting governor, Folashodun Shonubi, announced on Monday that further steps would be taken to stabilise the naira versus the dollar after updating President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja on the bank’s efforts to stop the currency’s drop.
He reassured Nigerians that the CBN was striving to increase liquidity, establish market stability, and address problems in the parallel market.
He said that speculative demand, in addition to economic causes, was a major driver of the oscillations in the parallel market.
Following the CBN’s pronouncement on Monday, a top official of an investment bank claimed that traders grew more cautious.
