Fakoyejo OlalekanThe Naira fought back against the Dollar on Monday, 17 April 2023, gaining 0.37 per cent in value, as the cost of the United States currency dropped by ₦1.75 kobo in the official market.
At the end of trading on Monday, the Foreign Exchange (Forex) between the Naira and the Dollar closed at ₦462.25 kobo/$1, below the ₦464/$1 reported last week Friday, 14 April.
During intra-day trading, both currencies had exchanged for ₦466, which is the highest rate of the day, and also for ₦460/$1, the lowest level.
In addition, the traders in the Investors’ and Exporters’ window recorded a significant drop in their total foreign exchange transactions on Monday.
According to data obtained by Prime Business Africa from FMDQ Exchange, $31.55 million worth of foreign currencies were transacted by traders.
This is $30.61 million or 49.2 per cent lower than the $62.16 million foreign exchange traded on the Investors’ and Exporters’ window on Friday.
The decline in foreign exchange transactions in the official market reflects the scarcity of forex that has fueled the value of the Dollar against the Naira.
Several solutions have been proffered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to solve the Dollar scarcity in Nigeria, but they have had little or no impact, as oil marketers and airline operators have continued to complain and voice their inability to access the forex.
Also, Nigerian commercial banks have also been struggling to meet the foreign exchange demand from their account holders, forcing the lenders to cut down the amount their customers can request and also increase the timeframe to process the request.
Many deposit money banks have cut off their Naira card customers from accessing Dollars due to the shortage, limiting access to account holders with Dollar cards.
The scarcity also forced the CBN to urge banks to source for their own forex and not depend solely on the central bank.
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