Naira falls to N707/$1 at black market, as forex scarcity persists

The Nigerian naira, on Wednesday, weakened to N707 a dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market.

The figure represents N42 or 7.45 per cent depreciation compared to the N658 it traded last week — further losing value against the dollar.

Street traders said the free fall resulted from the lingering foreign exchange (FX) supply constraints.

With a profit margin of N17, the traders put the buying price at N690 and the selling price at N707.

This is even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has often maintained that the parallel market is not the true reflection of the naira.

Read also: Naira appreciates 0.10% against dollar at official market

The difficulties getting dollars from the official market, make the option of the black market an important source to access forex.

Meanwhile, at the official market, FMDQ securities reports that Naira closed Wednesday trading at N436.50 to a dollar reversing the 0.10 per cent gain recorded on Tuesday.

The depreciation of the local currency comes as forex supply to the investors and importers window dropped to $65.95 million from $83.71million recorded on Monday.

The latest exchange rates imply that the disparity between the black and official markets now stands at N270.5.

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