BEVERLY HILLS, January 28, (THEWILL) – The naira on Thursday depreciated further against the dollar across foreign exchange (FX) market, as President Muhammadu Buhari insisted on no currency devaluation.
The naira weakened against the dollar by N1 or 0.33 percent each at the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and the parallel market, respectively.
After trading, the local currency closed at N304/$ from N303/$ the previous day at the BDC segment, while it closed at N306/$ compared with N305/$ traded the previous day at the parallel market.
At the inter-bank market, naira dropped slightly against the greenback by N0.01k or 0.01 percent, closing at N199.36k/$ as against N199.35k/$ the previous day, data from FMDQ indicated.
The CBN’s clearing rate remained unchanged, closing at N197/$ at the inter-bank FX, as seen on FMDQ website.
Buhari on Thursday in Abuja insisted that the country would not devalue its currency, against analysts and investors expectation backing the central bank’s stance of keeping rates unchanged in the face of sharp falls against the dollar on the parallel market.
President Buhari said “proponents of devaluation will have to work much harder to convince him that ordinary Nigerians will gain anything from it,” his office said in a statement titled, ‘President Buhari rejects devaluation.’
Buhari also backed the central bank’s decision to stop selling dollars to FX bureaus, saying: “We don’t have the dollars to give to the BDCs (bureaux des change). Let them go and get it from wherever they can other than the central bank.”
The statement from Buhari noted that there was about 74 BDCs in 2005, but they have grown to about 2,800, describing their business as a “scam and drain on the economy.”
The central bank stopped the dollar sales this month to preserve the dwindling foreign currency reserves, irritating Nigerians trying to get hard currency for travelling abroad.
Buhari is “optimistic that the Nigerian economy will stabilise soon with the efficient implementation of measures and policies that have been introduced by his administration,” the statement said.
Story by David Oputah
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