The naira on Thursday continued its fall against the United States dollar fromN1,300/$ on Tuesday to N1,309/$ at the official market and N1,420/$ at the parallel market, apparently owing to increase in the demand for dollar.
Operators as at Thursday reportedly bought the dollar at the rate of N1,340/$ and sold at N1,420/$, making a profit margin of about N80.
Many Nigerians are puzzled at the falling value of the naira despite all that the Central Bank of Nigeria , CBN, is doing to shore up the naira.
The new rate which indicates a depreciation of N90 or 6.8 per cent from N1,330 quoted by currency traders on Wednesday followed renewed dollar demand pressure in the foreign exchange market.
With the current exchange rate, the naira has plummeted to 26.2 per cent in just a forth night when compared to N1,125 per dollar it exchanged for on April 12, 2023, at the parallel market.
Only on Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria approved the allocation of $15.83 million to 1,583 BDC operators. in a bid to inflate liquidity in the parallel market.
The CBN in a letter to BDCs announced the allocation of $10,000 to operators across the country. The allocation comes at a rate of N1,021 per US dollar, aimed at stabilsing the foreign exchange market and ensuring accessibility of foreign currency to eligible end users.
Despite all the efforts by the apex bank to stabilise the foreign exchange market and shore up the value of the naira, it has not yielded the desired result as the naira resumes its downward trend in both the official and parallel market.
It remains to be seen what new strategy the CBN will employ to counter the distressing trend.