By John Ikani
Naira fell significantly against the U.S. dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday noon, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it would no longer sell forex to Bureau De Change operators.
The local unit, which opened at today’s trading session at N505 per $1, is currently trading at N522 to a dollar at the parallel market segment, data from abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel rates in Lagos showed.
Analysts at Cordros Research have projected more pressure for the exchange rate at the parallel market as a result of the CBN’s ban. The analysts said this in a post on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report on Wednesday morning.
They said the discontinuation of the sale of foreign exchange to the BDCs would put further pressure on the exchange rate as the commercial banks settle to adjust to the Central Bank’s directive.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had announced Tuesday that it has stopped the sales of forex to Bureau De Change operators.
He explained that the parallel market operations had become a conduit for illicit forex flows and graft.
He said the CBN would channel weekly allocations of dollar sales to commercial banks in order for them to meet legitimate foreign exchange demands, while urging bank operators to sell forex to every customer who meet its requirements.
