The naira fell to 257 against the dollar
at the parallel market on Thursday. The local currency had traded
against the greenback at between 251 and 252 on Wednesday.
The naira has been falling since last
Wednesday when the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped the sale of foreign
exchange to some Bureaux de Change operators for failing to render
returns on the utilisation of previous forex purchases.
The exclusion of the BDCs from the
weekly forex sale, which continued on Wednesday, has been creating
shortage of dollars, causing the greenback to rise at the parallel
market.
However, the local currency traded at
198.97 to the dollar at the official interbank market on Thursday. The
naira-dollar exchange rate has been moving between 197 and 199 at the
official interbank market since February.
The central bank had sold $30.5m to 1,017 BDCs on Wednesday but excluded around 1,801 others from its weekly sale.
“We are in contact with the central bank
to resolve issues around the exclusion of some of our members from
forex sales and we are expecting a positive response,” the President,
Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Mr. Aminu Gwadabe, said while
reacting to the development.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele,
on Thursday said at the annual Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos that
the fall in oil prices had created pressure on the external reserves and
the exchange rate.
