LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso has refuted claims that the purpose of the apex bank is to defend the naira after it value depreciated to N1,234/$ at the official foreign exchange market on Monday.
The data obtained from the FMDQ securities exchange showed that the naira fell by N65 or 5.26 per cent from N1,169.99/$1 recorded on Friday.
Last week, the naira had strengthened to around N1,072.74 on Wednesday as forex traders speculated it could trade below N1,000 against the US dollar for the first time.
However, the CBN governor had counter opinions about the position of the apex bank in defending the naira with the sudden drop in external reserves
He said, “I want to make this as clear as possible, it is not in our intention to defend the naira and as much I have read in the recent few days, some opinions with respect to what is happening with our reserves and if the central bank is defending the naira.”
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“Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have maintained a one-month dip streak. The latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria show the external reserves reached a new low of $32.1bn on April 18, 2024. The reserves dropped by $2.35bn in 31 days, from $34.45bn on March 18, 2024,” The Nation reported.
The naira has experienced a significant drop from nearly N,2000 in the Fx market from mid-February following FG clampdown on Binance exchange platform.
Rising crypto exchange platforms BYBIT and BITGET are accused on recent alleged manipulation of the market for the latest slip of the naira by market observers.
The summary of the forex transaction showed that the intra-day high depreciated, closing at N1,295 per dollar. The intra-day low also reduced to N1,051/$. While the total daily turnover dropped slightly to $110.17m on Monday.
At the parallel market, currency traders sold the dollar between the rate of N1,250 and N1,270 from N1,154 recorded last Friday.
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Bureau de Change operators lament that the instability of the market has arouse tension among the transacting communities.
The naira which has since late March, experience a surge and rated the best-performing currency in the global market, started to drop for the first time on Sunday.
A BDC operator, Abubakar Taura said, “We sold the dollar today between the rate of N1,250 and N1,270 and it is a bit surprising because we don’t even know the real reason but that is the market, one day there will be profit and another day we make losses.”