Naira crashes to N710/$1

The naira, on Wednesday, crashed further in the parallel market, trading for N710 against the U.S. dollar on the exchange platform, Aboki Forex.

According to data from Aboki Forex, naira which traded for N670 against the dollar on Monday, has fallen further by 6.7 percent in two days as of Friday afternoon.

Today’s record fall comes a year after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prohibited the sale of foreign currency to Bureau De Change operators.

The apex bank had previously prohibited the sale of foreign exchange to BDC operators due to their unauthorised sales of foreign exchange above the market they were authorised to serve.

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Prior to the ban, BDC operators were a major black market, providing exchange rate support to those who could not formally access foreign currencies directly from the CBN.

The suspension of BDC operators’ ability to source foreign exchange from the CBN could seriously impact the country’s economy by mounting further pressure on the national currency.

The exchange rate was about N501 to a dollar when the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, banned the sale of forex to BDC.

Emefiele had cited the illegal sale as the reason behind its decision

However, a year after the ban, the value of the naira plunged to N670 to a dollar.

The Star