Naira Slides Down to N315 Per Dollar As Exchange Rate Pressure Intensifies

Pressure on exchange rate at the parallel market segment on Wednesday, February 10,Pulled naira down even as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, window remained stable.

At two of the main market hubs in Lagos, Naira traded at N315 to one US Dollar as black market operators sold at high N318/USD1 but CBN’s rate remained at N197/ USD1, while interbank rate was N199.

One of the black market operators who engaged Vanguard in an argument on why Naira was under pressure, explained that since the apex bank stopped selling foreign currencies to Bureau De Changes, BDCs, there had been acute shortages in the supply of the resources.

He admitted that the black market operators actually got supplies from the BDCs who had sourced the foreign exchange from the official CBN window, thereby confirming the apex bank’s allegation that the BDCs were diverting the official allocation of the foreign currencies for higher rates at the black market.