Fakoyejo OlalekanThe Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally devalued the naira, Prime Business Africa gathered from FMDQ Exchange on Wednesday night.
According to FMDQ Exchange, which is the official market foreign exchange aggregator, the dollar closed at N664.04/$1.
The dollar rate was increased by 40.7% or N192.37 kobo at the end of trading today, considering the dollar closed at N471.67/$1 the previous day.
Interestingly, the highest level of the dollar rate during trading was N791/$1, while the lowest rate for the day was N461/$1, but at the end of trading, the United States currency was valued at N664.04/$1.
Before trading closed in the official market, the foreign exchange transacted in the investors and exporters window was valued at $193.33 million.
This surpassed the $114.78 million in foreign exchange transacted by authorised dealers and willing buyers on Tuesday. The forex supply increased by $78.55 million or 68.4%.
In a statement confirming the devaluation of the naira, the CBN disclosed on Wednesday that it has adopted the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller” model in the official market.
This means the exchange rate of foreign currencies will be determined by the negotiation between the sellers and the buyers, limiting the influence of CBN’s control on the price movement.
“Re-introduction of the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller” model at the I&E Window. Operations in this window shall be guided by the extant circular on the establishment of the window, dated 21 April 2017 and referenced FMD/DlR/ClR/GEN/08/007. All eligible transactions are permitted to access foreign exchange at this window,” the CBN said.
In the circular titled; “OPERATIONAL CHANGES TO THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET,” the CBN added that government-related transactions will also be determined by the market, The operational rate for all government-related transactions shall be the weighted average rate of the preceding day’s executed transactions at the I&E window, calculated to two (2) decimal places,” the apex bank said.
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