Naira falls to N703/$1 at black market, as BDCs fear another EFCC raid

Nigerian currency suffered another heavy loss on Monday at the unofficial market, but was stable at the official market.

Data obtained from FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria shows that Naira closed Monday at N430.33 at the official market.

This is the same rate it closed on Friday last week.

Read also: CBN records $2.4bn from ‘Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ in eight months

Naira managed to secure the closing rate despite an exchange as high as N432 to a dollar.

Naira’s performance was even more surprising given the low forex supply at the market which closed at $54.13 million compared to $82 million last Friday.

It was however a different story at the black market as black-market traders exchanged the Naira for as high as N703 to a dollar.

Some Bureau de change operators who spoke to Ripples Nigeria said they expect the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to conduct another raid, but are very convinced it won’t change Naira depreciation.

They strongly believe that as far as dollar scarcity persists in the country, the days of the Naira exchanging at below N600 are long gone.

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