Naira Depreciates To N748/$ At Parallel Market

Dollar and naira

Naira has dropped to N748 per dollar at the parallel/black market of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

Gatekeepers News reports that the figure represents a depreciation of N8 or 1.1 percent from the N740 it traded two weeks ago.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators who spoke to TheCable on Friday morning, in the Victoria Island area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria said there has been an increase in demand for the greenback by importers at the street market.

They put the buying price of the dollar at N740 and the selling price at N748, leaving an N8 profit margin.

A currency trader said, “Demand for dollars is better now. We are selling well.”

Meanwhile at the investors and exporters (I&E) forex window, the local currency appreciated by 0.06 percent to close at N462.73 on Thursday. This was according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform where FX is officially traded.

The data also showed that forex worth $164.12 million were transacted among market dealers.

Earlier this week, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele said exporters of raw and unprocessed items would now enjoy a rebate for every dollar of non-oil export proceeds sold at the I&E window.

Emefiele, however, said the rebate for unprocessed items would not be at the same rate paid for semi-finished and processed products.

The CBN Governor said, “We should be able to give out about N30 to N35 to one dollar for unprocessed items as against the rebate of N65 to every dollar enjoyed by exporters of processed products at the importers and exporters (I&E) window.”