Naira hits N217 to dollar at black market
The naira depreciated by N5 to the dollar on Friday, trading N217 at the black market and N215 at the Bureau De Change (BDCs) segment of the official market.
A dealer, who did not want to be named, told NAN in Lagos that the depreciation might be due to the closure of the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) by the CBN.
It was closed by CBN on February 18.
The RDAS is a foreign exchange window at CBN where the Bureau de Change and commercial banks buy forex.
The dealer said that the CBN’s decision, which was meant to control speculations, has made other currencies to be scarce.
He also said that dealers were left to source for forex only at the interbank market unlike in the past when they had three to four segments to buy.
Meanwhile the rate of pound also went higher. Against the N307 that it was sold for on Monday, it exchanged for N332 against a naira.
It went for N335 at the black market, from the N314 it sold four days ago.
The naira lost N5 to the Euro to sell at N240, when compared with the N235 it sold at the BDCs on Monday.
The currency, at the black market, traded for N244 as against the N237 it traded on Monday.
The exchange rate is part of the Transformation agenda of Mr. President. Who will dispute that Mr. President is not transforming Nigeria to Zimbabwean standard?
We do not have to politicise everything. Left to most discerning Nigerians, the exchange rate should further depreciate, in order to curb our propensity for yearning after foreign products and services. We produce virtually nothing apart from crude oil and import everything else. If oil prices fall, what then do you do about the your currency? This is a good wake-up call. Let us learn to produce what we consume. The USA, European and Asian currencies are stable because these people consume what they produce and export more of these products to our gullible peoples. We should stop this constant political blame game designed to demonise an individual, and instead cast the blame on our perennially indolent peoples.