By Chinwendu Obienyi
Following the increased demand for the dollar amidst continuous shortages in the nation’s authorised markets, Nigerians and most especially businesses have continued to lament while urging the Federal government to create a stable exchange rate and more transaction channels.
This is coming after the exchange rate between the Naira and the US dollar fell to a record low at the parallel markets, trading at a minimum of N870/$1 on Monday afternoon.
This is more than double the official NAFEX exchange rate of N440/$1 reported by the central bank on its website for November 4, 2022.
The rates closed above N870/$1 on Friday, however, several parallel market rates seen by Daily Sun suggest rates depreciated further to as low as N890-N900/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had increased the monetary policy interest rate to 15.5 per cent last month from 14 per cent in a bid to tame the rising inflation in the country, which reached a 17-month high in August 2022, largely due to the global energy crisis and depreciating exchange rate.
The apex bank has continued to intervene in the official market to manage exchange rate volatility in the market, which has strained the country’s external reserve amidst dollar shortages in the economy.
However, Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) in the country have said the unorthodox foreign exchange policy of CBN is adversely impacting the naira exchange stability across all markets and have created a huge premium between official and parallel market rates.
The exchange rate between the naira and dollar sold for N900/$1 according to a cross-section of dealers who claimed to have traded on Saturday 5th November 2022.