Naira no longer N800/$, appreciates at official market as BDCs operators adopt different exchange rates

Naira recorded a slight recovery against the US dollar on Monday, July 17, 2023, after falling to its lowest on Friday last week.

Data obtained from FMDQ securities showed that Naira's closing exchange rate against the US dollar was N795.28 on Monday.

This is an improvement of 1.07% or N8.62 compared to the previous rate of N803.90 to a dollar it exchanged on July 14.

Forex market performance

FMDQ data also showed that some participants exchanged a dollar for as high as N832 during intra-day trading.

While the total forex transaction recorded on Monday was just $34.55 million a 26.33 percent decline when compared to $46.9 million on Friday.

Black Market traders rates

However, at the parallel market, the Naira continues to exchange above N800 to a dollar.

DailyTrust reports that the dollar was exchanged between N825 and N830 in Lagos while in Abuja, it was sold between N810 and N812, and in Kano, it was exchanged for N820.

At the peer-to-peer forex window where the exchange rate is trading using cryptocurrency stable coins, rates sold for around N831/$1 on Monday.

BDCs president speaks on Naira depreciation

The President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadebe has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to include BDCs in the Investors and Exporters window to stop the free fall of naira.

According to him, while the I&E window is laudable, it’s patriotic and nationalistic, there is no policy that can actualize its mission without carrying the interest of the subsector (which is the BDCs).

He words: "The I&E window is supposed to run on three legs, the banks, the CBN and the BDCs, overtly or covertly, the BDCs are missing.’’