‘Nothing has changed’ - Naira continues downward slide after CBN promised to supply more dollars

Five days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) promised to intervene in the foreign exchange market, the naira still needs to recover at both the official and parallel markets.

Checks by Legit.ng reveal that the naira has depreciated further in the parallel market, trading at about N1,049 to a dollar from N1,040 to a dollar, while it crashed to N1,280 to the British pound.

Analysts predicted that lifting Forex access on the 43 items previously banned by the CBN would ease pressure on the naira, but that is yet to reflect as more buyers flood the streets in search of the US greenback.

CBN also blamed the fall of the naira on the Forex restriction on the 43 items and promised to supply more Forex to the market.

Data from FMDQ by Legit.ng shows that the naira is officially worse off after CBN lifted the Forex ban, trading at N778 per dollar.

When writing this report, the naira is officially exchanging for N778 per dollar from the N764 per dollar it traded on Friday, October 13, 2023.

Experts believe the apex bank is more experimental in tackling the naira slide than scientific.

Forex dealer John Ogwu told Legit.ng that nothing would change regarding the naira slide, predicting that Nigerians should expect the naira to trade at N1,100 on or before December 2023.

"The slide will continue, and we may even experience a route to N1,100 on or before December this year. What the CBN is doing is experimental rather than scientific. The guys at the bank are trying to see what will work."

Ogwu said that what Nigeria needs to do fast is to increase the export of other things and not just crude oil. "We need to earn more Forex, and we cannot do so by exporting crude oil."

Hopes were high on Thursday, October 12, 2023, when the CBN announced that importers of the banned 43 items could begin to access Forex at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.