TheCable

The naira has depreciated to N615 a dollar at the parallel market ahead of a two-day holiday for Eid-el-Kabir.

The figure represents N1 or 0.2 percent depreciation compared to the N614 it traded last week.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos told TheCable on Friday that there is high demand for forex at the street market.

The street traders put the buying price of the dollar at N610 and the selling price at N615, leaving a profit margin of N5.

“There is high demand but we don’t have enough dollars. That’s why it is expensive. Most people that buy goods outside the country are buying dollar today. They want to do their transactions today because there won’t be work on Monday and Tuesday,” Alhaji Musa told TheCable.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the parallel market is not a true reflection of the country’s exchange rate.

Last year, it stopped forex sales to BDC operators, accusing them of being involved in illegal financial flows and money laundering in Nigeria.

At the official market, the currency also fell by 0.1 percent to close at N428.16 on Thursday, according to data on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.