Naira Declines to N443/US$ Despite Forex Sales

The Central Bank of Nigeria has resumed its intermittent forex intervention on Monday after suspending the program in early May in accordance with the Federal Government COVID-19 lockdown measures.

The central bank injected $51.8 million into the nation’s forex market through 5,180 Bureau de Change Operators.

Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, the President of the Associaton of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, said the 5,180 BDCs had funded their accounts with Naira equivalent of $10,000 each.

He said, “Each one got $10,000. We expect all the BDCs to get because we have about 5,180 BDCs that have funded their accounts.”

As at the time he spoke with us, he said around 5,120 BCDs had been paid even though the payment started a bit late.

According to him, only about 100 to 150 members who were having issues of suspension may not get paid.

He, however, commended the central bank for the resumption of dollar sales to the bureau de change section of the forex market.

Despite the forex injection, the Naira slid by N3 to N443 against the US dollar on the black market. Suggesting that forex traders might have priced in the intervention with the N40 improvement experienced by the local currency against the greenback last week.