The
naira fell to a new low of 414 against the United States dollar on
Sunday amid the continued scarcity of foreign exchange in the country,
with economic experts predicting further pressure in the forex market
this week.
The development came five days after the
Central Bank of Nigeria had banned nine commercial banks from the forex
market for failing to remit the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation’s $2.334bn into the Treasury Single Account in line with
President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive last September.
The naira was sold for 414/dollar across
some black market segments in Lagos and Abuja on Sunday. It hit an
all-time low of 412 against the greenback at the parallel market on
Friday, after closing at 409/dollar on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a day after the CBN banned
the nine banks from the forex market, the local currency depreciated to
402/dollar, down from the 397 it closed against the greenback on
Tuesday.
Forex dealers said the demand pressure
on the dollar, mounted by summer travellers and parents paying schools
fees of their children studying overseas, was exacerbated by the CBN’s
forex ban on the nine lenders.
The currency dealers said the naira started falling after the CBN banned the lenders from forex transactions.
It first touched 400/dollar at the black
market this month since the CBN floated the currency on the official
interbank market in June.
At the interbank market, the naira
closed at 314.95 on Friday, with traders saying interbank rates would
ease this week when part of July’s budget allocation must have entered
the banking system.
But experts said the naira would plunge
further against the US dollar this week at the parallel market as forex
supply remained a major challenge.
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