TheCable

The Nigerian naira, on Wednesday, weakened to N707 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market amid increased demand.

The figure represents N5 or 0.7 percent depreciation compared to the N702 it traded a week ago.

Currency traders known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs), who spoke to TheCable in Lagos, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N700 and the selling price at N707 per dollar.

A parallel market (street market) is characterised by noncompliant behaviour with an institutional set of rules.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has consistently maintained that the parallel market represents less than one percent of foreign exchange transactions and should never be used to determine Nigeria’s naira/dollar exchange.

On the official market side, the naira depreciated by 0.29 percent to close at N436 to a dollar on Tuesday, according to data on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.

Last month, the apex bank called on private sector operators to repatriate foreign exchange (FX) earnings through official channels to ease the pressure on the naira.

“We are taking FX out of this country and dumping offshore; when we were told to bring them back. If Nigerians are bringing back FX, we would not be talking about the challenges of FX. There is a challenge for individuals and businesses to do the right thing,” Egboagwu Ezulu, CBN deputy director, banking services, had said.