Fakoyejo Olalekan
In the official market, the Dollar rate depreciated by N0.33 kobo, indicating the Naira’s value in the Investors and Exporters window appreciated by 7.15 per cent.
The Naira gained against the Dollar on Monday, 20 March 2023, according to data Prime Business Africa obtained from FMDQ Exchange.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis publication confirmed that the exchange rate between the Nigerian and United States currencies closed down at N461.50 kobo/$1.
It was 7.15 per cent lower than the N461.83 kobo/$1 the Investors and Exporters window closed with last week Friday, 17 March 2023.
Prior to the official foreign exchange market closing for business on Monday, the Dollar rate had appreciated to N551/$1, which was the day’s high.
The exchange rate between the Naira and the Dollar had also depreciated to a low of N460 to one American greenback during trading, before closing at N461.50/$1.
According to the data obtained from the official foreign exchange rate tracker, it was learnt that $125.66 million was the total forex transactions recorded on Monday.
When compared to the $87.81 million the Investors and Exporters exchanged on Friday, the total value of foreign exchange traded rose by $37.85 million or 43.10 per cent.
Meanwhile, in other Dollar related reports, Nigerian banks have reviewed their Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA).
The Deposit Money Banks reduced the Dollar disbursement for Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance to $2,000 this month.
While the value of the foreign exchange disbursed was dropped, the processing time was increased to 120 days, showing that the financial institutions in Nigeria are still struggling with Dollar scarcity.
Due to limited access to Dollars, some commercial banks have reduced or stopped monthly dollar spend on Naira master cards, cutting off many Nigerians from accessing foreign exchange through the official market. They also reduced the monthly spending on Dollar cards.
