Panic as naira depreciates thrice in 6 hours
Currency traders in Lagos became apprehensive on Wednesday as the naira depreciated thrice in six hours at the parallel market.
The traders were meeting in clusters, painstakingly trying to unravel the rationale behind the sudden depreciation, after it had appreciated for about four weeks.
It exchanged at N467 to the dollar as of 4:30pm, after it traded for N455, and N460 in a couple of hours on Wednesday, while the pound sterling and euro closed at N560 and N505, respectively.
The Nigerian currency, after weeks of sustained appreciation, stabilised at N455 to a dollar prior to its depreciation on Wednesday.
At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Nigerian currency sold at N385 to a dollar, CBN controlled rate, while the pound sterling and the euro closed at N553 and N500, respectively.
The official interbank market was not isolated from the depreciation fever as the naira lost N1.78 to close at N306.78, from N305 it posted previously.
Traders at the market could not offer sufficient reason for the performance of the naira at the parallel market.
But this happened at a time when Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt were keying into the First Bank of Nigeria and Travelex Forex auction window.
Traders believe that the liquidity challenge would ease off by Thursday after BDCs would have bought Forex from Travelex in Lagos.
“E go dey roll, dey crack, dey jam, dey burn, dey burst..when Naira fall, many people fall with am…”
Fela Kuti
This scare crowing. You should report average or the lowest and highest prices for the day.
It very speculative and irresponsible reporting .You are panicking the market.currency speculators bought and hoarded the dollar.With it dropping, there loss begins to grow.To shore up the price, they create artificial scarcity. Then they the value of the dollar, which is there asset will have a higher carrying value.