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Tag: Naira

  • Naira drops further against dollar at parallel market

    The Naira on Friday depreciated further at the parallel market as dollar scarcity worsened.

    The Naira may be seeing its worst times as the CBN will be resuming dollar sales to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators next week.

    The Nigerian currency exchanged at N497 to a dollar at the parallel market, losing two points from Thursdays posting; while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N597 and 515 respectively.

    At the BDC window, the Naira was sold at N399 to a dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N600 and N515, respectively.

    Trading at the interbank market window saw the Naira closed at N305.00 to a dollar.

    Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), expressed the hope that the Naira would bounce back next week. Gwadabe said that the CBN would be selling about 25 million dollars to BDCs next week and this would definitely help in reducing liquidity challenge in the Market.

    He urged Nigerians not to panic as the CBN was working closely with the BDCs to ensure that the Naira recovers quickly.

     

    NAN

  • Naira appreciates marginally, now exchanges for N490/$1

     

    The Naira on Monday appreciated at the parallel market after about two weeks of losses.

    The currency gained 3 points to exchange at N490, from N493 it posted last Friday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N600 and N506, respectively.

    At the Bureau De Change window, the Naira closed at N399, CBN rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N599 and N510, respectively.

    Trading on the floor of the inter-bank market saw the Naira stable at N305.00.

    Traders at the market linked the appreciation of the Naira to slow activities at the market.

    The Naira had exchanged around N490 in spite of speculations that it would hit the N500 to a dollar mark.

     

     

    NAN

  • Naira falls further against dollar, now exchanges for $1/N493

    Naira falls further against dollar, now exchanges for $1/N493

    The Naira fell further against the United States dollar at the parallel market on Friday to 493, from 490 on Thursday.

    The fall of the Naira according to investigations was a result of increased demand for the dollar and other hard currencies by parents seeking to pay school fees of their children studying outside the shores of the country.

    The Naira had closed flat against the dollar at the official interbank window and at the parallel foreign exchange market last Tuesday, the first official trading day of the year.

    It closed at 305 to a dollar at the official window, the same rate it closed on the last working day of 2016, while the local currency closed at 490/dollar on the black market.

    The Naira had similarly closed at 490/dollar on Friday, the last official trading day of 2016.

    The local currency also closed flat at 490/dollar last Wednesday and Thursday at the parallel market, before recording loss on Friday.

    Economic and financial experts have expressed divergent views over the outlook of the naira this year.

    The Naira beat analysts’ expectation and closed the year 2016 at 490 against the dollar at the parallel market.

    Due to the persistent pressure on the naira, currency and financial analysts had predicted that the local currency would hit 500/dollar on or before the New Year.

    The Naira has been under severe and continuous pressure as the scarcity of the US currency continues to create ripples in the financial markets and economy.

    Recall that the CBN had about two weeks ago sold about $1bn on the forward market to clear a backlog of dollar obligations in selected sectors.

    Traders however await the effect of the interventions by the apex bank on the dwindling value of the Naira.

     

  • Naira stabilises at N490/$

    Naira stabilises at N490/$

    The Naira on Tuesday stabilised at N490 to a dollar at the parallel market in spite of speculations that it would depreciate to N500 to a dollar by the end of 2016, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Pound Sterling and the Euro also closed at N585 and N505 respectively.

    At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the dollar exchanged at N399, CBN controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N598 and N510, respectively.

    Trading at the interbank market saw the dollar closed at N305.

    Traders at the market said that Forex scarcity was still having its toll on the market.

    NAN reports that in spite of the one billion dollars backlog of Forex cleared by the CBN, the Naira has remained within N490 to a dollar.

    Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said that the figure was a far cry from the monthly Forex demand in the country.

    “The $1b inflow is far less than what the economy consumes. The entire FX market is over 20 billion dollars monthly.

    “The cleared backlog of the CBN are funds that came through the FMDQ OTC foreign investment that came into the economy over time and the CBN has no option than to redeem it, to close the increasing gap of investors’ confidence,’’ Gwadabe said.

  • Address hindrances in TSA transactions, expert advises FG

    Address hindrances in TSA transactions, expert advises FG

    A financial expert, Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has advised the Federal Government to intensify efforts in addressing the bottlenecks in the running of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the country.

    Nzekwe, former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Ota, Ogun.

    He said that such step would improve transactions through the TSA.

    The expert said that there were lots of bureaucracies affecting the smooth running of TSA and this might affect success of the policy.

    “The bureaucracy on TSA should be reduced by the Federal Government so that transactions carried out through the account would be easy.

    “They should also look into areas the people are complaining of the TSA and effect the necessary changes,’’ he said.

    According to him, the introduction of TSA by Federal Government had left the financial sector with insufficient funds to give to investors since they dependeded heavily on public funds to do business.

    He, however, urged banks to change from their armchair banking and regulations, but to double their efforts in attracting more customers into the system to enable them to have adequate funds to operate.

  • Naira weakens to N490/$ at parallel market

    Naira weakens to N490/$ at parallel market

    The Naira on Wednesday weakened to N490 to a dollar at the parallel market after appreciating to N485 to a dollar during the Christmas break.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Naira lost 5 points, representing a depreciation of 1.03 per cent, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N590 and 502, respectively.

    At the Bureau De Change (BDC) Window, the Naira traded at N399 to a dollar, CBN controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N602 and N510, respectively.

    The Naira traded at N305.25 to a dollar at the official interbank market.

    Traders at the market said that the scarcity of forex was still exerting pressures on the Naira.

    Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said that the pressure on the Naira was disturbing and dangerous to investment, output and employment.

    Gwadabe called for harmony between the fiscal and monetary policies in addressing the woes of the Naira.

    “There is the need for concerted collaboration among both the fiscal, monetary policy makers and the operators in the economy to address this monster facing the economy.

    “I must confessed that I am disturbed and worried,’’ Gwadabe said.

  • Forex: Naira may exchange N500 to $1

    Forex: Naira may exchange N500 to $1

     

    Following a persistent scarcity of the dollar and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN recent cut of supply to foreign exchange operators, the naira has continued to depreciate and may exchange for 500 Naira to one United States dollar at the parallel market from this week.

    The local currency was trading around N495 to the dollar on the black market on Thursday, compared to 485 per dollar last week due to dollar shortages, traders said.

    The naira was quoted at 310.5 to the dollar on the official interbank window on Thursday by commercial lenders.

    “There is an acute shortage of dollars in the market because of supply being slashed by half to Bureau de Change operators from international money transfer agents, pushing the naira down,” a concerened BDC operator said.

    The BDC operators are now getting $8,000 each per week from Travelex against the usual $15,000 each per week.

    The naira had tumbled against the dollar to 490 on Monday from 487 last Friday, as acute shortage of the greenback continued to batter the economy and the country’s foreign exchange markets.

    Before falling to 487 last Friday, the local currency had consecutively closed flat at 485 for four days in the previous week.

    The severe shortage of the dollar has put the naira under persistent pressure at both the official and parallel forex markets.


  • Naira in free fall against dollar, now exchanges for $1/N490

    Naira in free fall against dollar, now exchanges for $1/N490

    In what seems like a continuous acute shortage of forex, the Naira on Monday slipped further against the United States dollar 487 on Friday to 490.

    Before falling to 487 on Friday, the local currency had consecutively closed flat at 485 for four days last week.

    The severe shortage of the dollar has put the naira under persistent pressure at both the official and parallel forex markets.

    The global crash in the prices of crude oil, Nigeria’s main forex earner, has also brought untold hardships and instability of the nation’s currency.

     

    The naira had, however, consistently closed around 305.5 a dollar at the official window since August.

    A few weeks ago, the naira closed flat at 470 against the greenback over a period of a week and some days.

    The naira had plunged to 470, down from 455 on the back of a fresh dollar shortage at the official and parallel forex markets.

    Recall that Travelex and First Bank of Nigeria Limited commenced the sale of forex to Bureau De Change operators about two months ago after getting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval.

    Some forex traders, however, said the scheme had failed to ease the biting dollar shortage in the country.

    The President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the sale of dollars to the BDC operators had yet to cut across the country.

    This, he said, was partly responsible for the continuous acute shortage of the United States dollar.

    “There are still logistics problems in selling forex to all the BDC operators; this is what is causing this relative scarcity,” he said.

    The CBN had asked the International Money Transfer Operators to sell dollars directly to the BDC operators to boost liquidity and narrow the gulf between the parallel and official market rates.

    The CBN has however promised to implement policies aimed at making the naira stronger to the dollar. A feat many financial analysts said if achieved, 2017 will turn out to be a strong fiscal year.