The forex scarcity situation in Nigeria is taking its toll on the business of importers and traders of feature and smartphones as the prices of both new and used brands which have jumped by 30 per cent.
A survey by Leadership showed that between January and the first week of April, prices of handsets climbed between 30 and 100 per cent while sales have dropped by 50 per cent.
Findings reveal that Nokia 108 which was sold for N4,000 is now being sold at the rate of N8,500, a 112.5 per cent increase.
Likewise, the price of Blackberry Q10 which was sold at the rate of N29,500 in January this year, last week sold for N39,000, an increase of 34.5 per cent while BlackBerry Bold 5 is now being sold at the rate of N11,000 up from N9,000 which it used to sale.
BlackBerry Z10 which used to sell for N20,000 now sells between N23,000 and N25,000.
Some of the phone dealers, who spoke with Leadership lamented that the increase in price of phones caused by the declining value of the naira has also affected sales.
