Naira depreciates to N776.9/$ at I&E window, N793/$ at parallel market

The naira, on Friday, depreciated by 1.87 percent to close at N776.9/$ at the investors and exporters window.

Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees foreign exchange (FX) trading in Nigeria, showed that the local currency opened with an exchange rate of N762.5 to the dollar and sold for an intra-day high of N825/$ before closing at N776.9/$.

A total of $73.42 million in FX value was traded at the I&E window on Friday.

Meanwhile, at the parallel market where the dollar is traded unofficially, Bureaux De Change operators who spoke to TheCable in the Victoria Island area of Lagos said there was high demand for the greenback.

The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N785 and the selling price at N793, leaving a profit margin of N8.

“We have dollars to sell and people have also been coming to buy. Demand is high now,” trader simply identified as Musa said.

In mid-June, the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced major reforms that disrupted the foreign exchange market scope.

Prominent among the policies include the unification of all segments of the forex exchange (FX) market ( allowing the local currency to freely float) and the re-introduction of the “willing buyer, willing seller” model at the I&E window.

“Abolishment of segmentation. All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks,” the apex bank had said.

Following the apex bank’s directive, the naira depreciated significantly, trading at N 755 per dollar — but later appreciated to close at N664.