Naira depreciates to 470 against the dollar

 Naira depreciates to 470 against the dollar

By Modupe Shodeinde

The Naira weakened to 470 against the US dollar in the parallel market on Friday.

This is its weakest level in more than a month despite interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria in the official window. It had traded respectively at N465, N466 and N468 against the greenback on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Bloomberg reported that the naira closed at 382.10 per dollar on the spot market, where the CBN sells limited amounts of the greenback to importers.

It stated that the naira had lost all ground it gained after the regulator started weekly interventions, signaling the continuous existence of pent-up demand for the greenback.

After the Federal Government had lifted the ban placed on international travelling due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CBN had resumed sales to licensed Bureau de Change operators in September.

CBN’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bismarck Rewane, last week had predicted that the naira would weaken in the parallel market and likely depreciate to 470-475 against the dollar in November and December.

According to him, the supply of forex into the country would be further limitted with oil prices still under pressure.

He said resumption in international flights, trading and manufacturing activities would heighten forex demand pressures.

There have been reports of Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves falling to the lowest level on in more than two months, this week.

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