Niger: Naira Plunges to New Low On I&E Window

Naira plunged on the official market to trade at N770.38 per $1 on Monday

Naira on Monday plunged to its lowest rate ever against the United States dollar on the Investors and Exporters (I&E) to trade at N770.38 per dollar after gaining ground last Friday.

The decline happened less than 24 hours after Nigeria's Central Bank announced the removal of cash deposit limitations on domiciliary accounts, granting account holders the liberty to withdraw up to $10,000 per day.

Data posted on the FMDQ securities exchange window where forex is officially traded showed that the naira commenced the day's trading at N703.50, hitting an intraday low of N799.00 and a high of N461.00 before it eventually closed at N770.38 per $1.

On Monday, $78.03 million was recorded as foreign exchange supplied within the trading period.

This represents a N107.34 or 16.20 per cent decline from N663.04 per dollar; the domestic unit exchanged on the I & E window in the previous session last Friday.

However, the naira traded at a stronger rate on the parallel market as against the official window on Monday.

The naira was exchanged within the range of N751.00 and N752.00 per dollar at the parallel market on Monday, currency dealers said.

This development leaves the spread between the official and unofficial markets at 2.52per cent on Monday with a margin of N18.38/N19.38.

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