Indeed, Naira devaluation is probably the most potent weapon against the prosperity of Nigerians. Nigeria’s migration from a potential industrial power house with bustling social affluence, to a subdued and stumbling economy clearly began with the adoption of IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme during Babangida’s regime: the chorus from International Agencies, at that time, was also that falling oil prices with an unserviced debt burden and the consequent restriction of trade credit to Nigeria, were the products of an allegedly overvalued Naira exchange rate.
The Naira on Tuesday stabilised at N490 to a dollar at the parallel market in spite of speculations that it would depreciate to N500 to a dollar by the end of 2016, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The Pound Sterling and the Euro also closed at N585 and N505 respectively.
At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the dollar exchanged at N399, CBN controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro traded at N598 and N510, respectively.
Trading at the interbank market saw the dollar closed at N305.
Traders at the market said that Forex scarcity was still having its toll on the market.
NAN reports that in spite of the one billion dollars backlog of Forex cleared by the CBN, the Naira has remained within N490 to a dollar.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said that the figure was a far cry from the monthly Forex demand in the country.
“The $1b inflow is far less than what the economy consumes. The entire FX market is over 20 billion dollars monthly.
“The cleared backlog of the CBN are funds that came through the FMDQ OTC foreign investment that came into the economy over time and the CBN has no option than to redeem it, to close the increasing gap of investors’ confidence,’’ Gwadabe said. (NAN)
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