Naira hasn’t stopped falling at parallel market

Monday, 27 September 2021 06:05

Naira hasn’t stopped falling at parallel market

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The naira exchanged to the dollar at 580 on Friday, while the Pound Sterling traded for 780 at the parallel market.

Some Bureau de Change operators who spoke to our correspondent said that the naira to the dollar was bought and sold at 575 and 580, while the Pound Sterling was bought and sold at 775 and 780.

At the I&E forex window, the naira reached a high of 415.20 to close at 414.90.

The official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s licensed Bureau De Change operators, www.naijabdcs.com, used for the publication of exchange rates of the naira to other currencies stopped publication of rates.

This followed the suspension of foreign exchange publication by AbokiFX after the CBN vowed to clampdown on the website, the owner and its patrons.

Despite efforts by the regulatory authority to salvage the naira crisis, the naira lost a margin of not less than 40 to the dollar in two months.

During a webinar earlier in the year which was organised by Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria in partnership with the CBN and other financial regulatory bodies, the association had said that, “ABCON is working with its consultants to revamp the naijabdcs.com to MyBdc.com.”

It would be recalled that ABCON launched www.naijabdcs.com in 2018, to provide data of different rates, names, contacts and locations of CBN licensed BDCs, as well as for other digital forex services.

Ever since, the website had furnished the public with rates in the parallel market, the way abokiFX had done.

But after the suspension of exchange rates publication on abokiFX, the BDCs’ website did not publish its daily rates.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had gone tough on abokiFX, after accusing the website and its owner of manipulating the currency to sabotage the economy.

Emefiele said, “Our preliminary findings show that his website is being used for foreign exchange manipulation and speculation.

“They get naira notes, use it to purchase dollars, take a position, change the rate over a given period, sell the dollars they purchase and make a profit. This is completely illegal, it is unacceptable and we will pursue them.”

Punch