The Nigerian currency, Naira has resumed depreciation against the US dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market on Friday.
The local currency depreciated by 17.14 percent to N1,230 per dollar — from N1,050/$ on April 17.
In the official FMDQ Exchange, the naira also failed to recover the previous day’s loss to trade at N1,169.9 to a dollar
Currency traders, known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate at N1,200 and the selling price at N1,230 — leaving a profit margin of N30.
“The price of the dollar against naira increased since yesterday, probably due to the fact that there has been an increased demand since yesterday,” Aliyu, a BDC operator, said.
Meanwhile, the decline ended the upward trend of the naira at the street market since March 20, when the FX rate was N1,500/$.
At the official window, the naira depreciated to N1,169.99 against the dollar on Friday — a 1.38 percent drop from the N1,154.08/$ traded on April 18.
The local currency traded at a high of N1,236 and a low of N1,021, according to FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria.
The development comes a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) denied selling FX to BDC operators at the rate of N1,001/$1.
CBN, in a post on X on April 18, said a circular claiming the apex bank announced the sale of $10,000 to BDCs at the rate of N1,001/$1 was “fake”.
The apex bank urged Nigerians to always refer to its website for authentic information.
On Tuesday, the naira recorded its first depreciation against the dollar after months of steady gains.
This was followed by another downturn on Thursday when the naira lost N81 to the dollar.
However, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, explained that naira’s appreciation can be sustained with liquidity in the country’s foreign exchange market.
Whereas analysts blamed the depletion of Nigeria’s foreign reserves for the naira depreciation, Cardoso said it was due to foreign loan repayment.
