The Nigerian naira has depreciated to its lowest level in 48 years, trading between 540 and 545 to a single dollar on Thursday.
The currency also suffered heavy value erosion against the Euro and the British pound.
The British pound exchanged for N740 and the Euro at N630 according to reports.
“For people that don’t buy today, it will be more expensive tomorrow,” Ibrahim Ahmad, Parallel market and Bureau De Change (BDC) traders said in a statement
“The dollar was going for N530 earlier today, but now, it’s N545, if you’re buying anything below $1,000”.
The British pound was trading at 740 across the same markets.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said in July that it would no longer sell forex to BDC traders.
The Apex bank has said repeatedly that the parallel market is not a true reflection of the naira.
Rates at the illegal window had jumped from N500 to U.S dollar to about N525-N530 after the CBN announced the suspension of dollar sales to the market segment
Today’s market behaviour represented another major leap.
Many Nigerians and businesses, who could not get the scarce forex in the official market run to this market.
