Naira now 220 to dollar in Bureau de Change segment

The decline of the Naira continues as Nigeria’s currency is now selling at 220 to the dollar at the Bureau de Change segment of the foreign exchange market.

“The dollar has gone to 220 at the close of the market today from 215.5 yesterday (Wednesday). That is the rate you can buy now, that is even if you see it. You might not even see it at 220 because the supply is not much,” the President of the Association of Bureau de Change of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, told Punch on Thursday.

“Last week, we bought at the interbank at N203, N204. As of yesterday (Wednesday), the rate at the BDC was N215.5. By tomorrow (Friday), we are likely going to see continuous volatility in the market except the CBN, as promised, continues to intervene at the interbank market,” Gwadabe added.

“There are over 2,500 BDC operators in the country. At the BDC, the process of buying dollars is less rigorous but the operators usually sell in small lots, compared with the interbank market, which can transact over $100m a day. There is going to be a lot of competition in the interbank market because everybody will be going there,” he continued.

“So, to some extent, except the CBN is going to intervene heavily in the market as it said, we will find that the sources of foreign exchange to the BDCs will be narrowed again and the rate at which the BDCs sell will definitely go higher,” Gwadabe said.

Olukunle Ezun, a fixed income and currency analyst at Ecobank, also said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had most likely devalued the naira.

“This one is more like implicit devaluation because the CBN has not made the pronouncement. But if the CBN is selling at N196 or N197, that is devaluation without saying it,” Ezun said.

The CBN had said on Wednesday that all requests for foreign exchange should be directed to the interbank market, adding that only genuine demands for foreign exchange would be met.