The nation’s currency, the naira on Thursday weakened further against the US dollar across foreign exchange markets as a result of short supply of the greenback by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dealers said.
Consequently, the naira fell in value against the dollar by N2.00k or 0.75 percent each at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the forex market and the parallel market respectively.
After trading on the same day, the local currency closed at N268/$ compared to N266/$ traded the previous day at the BDC segment. It closed at N270/$ as against N268/$ the previous day at the parallel market, BusinessDay checks revealed.
At the inter-bank foreign exchange, the naira weakened slightly against the greenback by N0.01k or 0.01 percent to close at N199.35/$ on Thursday from N199.34/$ the previous day, according to the data from FMDQ.
However, the clearing rates of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remained stable at N197/$ according to data seen on the FMDQ website.
Foreign reserves declined to $28.95 billion as at January 5, 2016 from $28.97 billion the previous day, data from CBN website has shown. It declined by 15.61 percent year-on-year to $29.13 billion by Dec. 29, from $34.52 billion a year ago.
Analysts at Cowry Asset Management limited had expected pressure on naira/dollar exchange rate to resurface this week on increased demand as business activities resume after the festive season.
Nigeria’s naira was down 10 percent year-on-year last year due to demand pressure in the wake of falling global oil prices and measures by the central bank to conserve its forex reserves, Reuters report.
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