The naira continued its slide on
Wednesday, dropping to 390 against the United States dollar at the
parallel market as foreign exchange scarcity persisted.
The naira, which dropped to 382 against
the United States dollar on Monday down from the 380 on Friday, had been
little-changed on Tuesday, hovering between 381 and 382.
A bureau de change operator told The PUNCH that Wednesday’s drop was due to increased demand despite the scarcity of the dollar.
“We don’t think it will rise to N400 today, but I don’t know of tomorrow,” he said.
The naira has been under a persistent
pressure as dollar scarcity continues to weigh on the local currency at
both the parallel and interbank forex markets.
Economic and financial experts said inadequate forex liquidity at the interbank market was taking a toll on the parallel market.
Analysts had predicted that the naira
would weaken further against the dollar this week owing to limited
dollar supply as foreign portfolio investors continued to stay on the
sidelines until the Nigerian economy showed signs of recovering from the
impact of currency controls.
Source:Punch
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