Naira depreciates further to ₦748/$ at parallel market

Ima Elijah 14:50 - 12 May 2023

A trader changes dollars with naira at a currency exchange store in Lagos February 12, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Penney

The Nigerian naira has further depreciated to ₦748 against the United States dollar at the parallel market, also known as the black or street market

The Nigerian naira has further depreciated to ₦748 against the United States dollar at the parallel market, also known as the black or street market.

This represents an ₦8 or 1.1% drop from the ₦740 it traded two weeks ago.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the Victoria Island area of Lagos reported an increase in demand for the greenback by importers at the street market, with a buying price of ₦740 and selling price of ₦748, yielding an N8 profit margin.

Meanwhile, at the investors and exporters (I&E) forex window, the naira appreciated by 0.06 percent to close at ₦462.73 on Thursday, May 11, 2023, according to data on the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, where foreign exchange is officially traded.

The data also revealed that $164.12 million worth of forex were transacted among market dealers.

CBN offers rebate for non-oil exporters at I&E window

In a related development, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, announced this week that exporters of raw and unprocessed items would now enjoy a rebate for every dollar of non-oil export proceeds sold at the I&E window.

However, he noted that the rebate for unprocessed items would not be at the same rate paid for semi-finished and processed products. The CBN governor said, “We should be able to give out about ₦30 to ₦35 to one dollar for unprocessed items as against the rebate of ₦65 to every dollar enjoyed by exporters of processed products at the importers and exporters (I&E) window.”