The Naira Wednesday depreciated further to N270 per dollar at the parallel market, following reduction of dollar sales to bureaux de change (BDCs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Investigation revealed that from N260 per dollar at the close of business on Tuesday, the parallel market exchange rate rose sharply to N270 per dollar in Lagos, indicating N10 depreciation.

But in Abuja, the parallel market exchange rate rose from N262 per dollar to close at N273 per dollar, indicating N11 depreciation.

BDC operators, who confirmed this development, said that the sharp depreciation was due to further reduction in the weekly dollar sales by the CBN.

President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said that though the CBN increase the number of BDCs it sold dollars to from 1,170 last week to 2,270 this week, it however reduced the amount of dollars sold to each BDC by 60 percent from $30,000 to $10,000.

According to Mr. Harrison Owoh, Chief Executive Officer, H.J Trust BDC, the decision of the CBN aggravated the demand situation in the market.

“There is huge volume of unsatisfied demand in the market. We had to turn down lots of request for dollars because of there is no dollars to sell to them”, he said.

An Abuja based BDC operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The dollar is selling at N273 in Abuja this evening. It was N262 in the morning. We are surprised at the pace of depreciation, because we can’t explain why it just went up by such margin in one day”.

Credit: Vanguard