Naira slumps further to 837.49/$

The naira maintained its downward trend on the Investor & Exporter forex window after closing at 837.49/$ at the end of trading on Thursday.

It had earlier closed at 801.10/$ at the end of trading on Wednesday.

Total turnover at the official market however rose from $100.18m on Wednesday to $113.22m on Thursday.

Figures obtained from the official trading platform, FMDQ, showed that the naira commenced trading at 780.50/$ and was sold as high as 891/$ before closing at 837.49/$.

At the parallel market, the naira traded between 1,300/$ and 1,310/$ on Thursday, some Bureau de Change operators told The PUNCH.

A BDC operator, Yusuf Kareem, who spoke to The PUNCH said, “We bought naira for 1,220/$ and sold at 1,300/$.”

Another BDC operator, Idris Musa, said, “We sold dollars for 1,310 today. The rate is still not yet stable.”

It would be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria recently lifted the forex ban on importers of 43 items.

This allowed the importers to access forex at the official rate on the FMDQ.

Analysts however said the recent order would put more pressure on the official market as the forex liquidity challenge still lingered.