Dollar To Naira Exchange Rate: Again, CBN’s Intervention Fails To Save Naira Against Dollar

The United States dollar depreciated in value against the naira on Thursday, after the Bureau De Change (BDC) operator cut the cost of buying $1 in the black market by -0.27 per cent.

Traders in the parallel market dropped their asking price to N728/$1, which is below the N730/$1 the American greenback sold for a day before. 

Bureau De Change operators’ decision to slash the price of one dollar indicates an appreciation in the naira, with the Nigerian currency rising by N2 in value on Thursday. 

Naira extended its upward trajectory to the peer-to-peer FX market, where the United States currency traded down to N729.96/$1, as traders reduced their asking price from the N730.3/$1 of Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, the naira couldn’t withstand the pressure from the American dollar in the official foreign exchange market on Wednesday, as it depreciated slightly to N437.5/$1. 

This means traders in the Investors and Exporters window of the official foreign exchange market raised their asking price from the previous session’s N437.25/$1 despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) continued intervention. 

The dip in naira value was on the back of a decrease in total forex transactions on Wednesday, which fell to $70.42 million from Tuesday’s $108.24 million. 

This is a difference of -34.94 per cent in the total forex transactions recorded on the Investors and Exporters window. This comes at a period it was revealed that Nigeria’s foreign reserves is on a downward path as a result of CBN’s interventions. 

As at Tuesday, October 4, the nation’s foreign reserve was $38.14 billion, below the $38.25 billion of Monday. Note that on September 29, Nigeria’s external reserves was $38.318 billion, far from the $40.520 billion recorded as at December 31, 2021.