The naira fell to an
all-time low of 436 to a single dollar on Thursday at the parallel market, as
scarcity of the greenback continues to hurt the forex market.
Foreign exchange reserves also touched a new 11-year low of $24.76
billion on Wednesday, the lowest since June 2005.
The British pound, and the European flagship currency, euro,
traded at N555 and N472 respectively, at the parallel market.
The interbank market was relatively stable at N305.5 to the
dollar, while the British and European currencies went for N399 and N343
respectively.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
had said the parallel market could not be used to evaluate the true value of
the local currency.
“It is unfair to use the shallow market as a basis for determining
the value of our currency. No one uses the Travelex rate at Heathrow to
determine the exchange rate for the pound in the United Kingdom,” Emefiele
said.
“So it is unfair to use that to determine the value of our
currency. Those who are dealing in the market are doing so illegally. We
should not be encouraging the tendencies of those people who are involved in
capital flight, or those who want to conduct foreign exchange business without
providing necessary documentation.”
Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote group;
Bukola Saraki, president of the senate; Muhammad Sanusi II, former governor of
central bank, and a host of others have called on the federal government to sell some national assets in other to shore reserves and support the naira.
President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to publicly comment on the
stance of these elites.
-TheCable
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