The naira struck a new low over the weekend, trading at N822/$ in the black market and N803.9/$ in the Investors & Exporters window, which is the official forex market.
The amount of money exchanged in the I&E window decreased by 6.6%. Dealers expressed disappointment that the anticipated rise in supply from the previous week did not occur.
A weekly trend in the parallel market indicates a depreciation of 5.5 percent to N822/$ as opposed to the closing rate the previous week of N779/$.
The local currency lost 3.9 percent of its W-o-W value during the I&E timeframe, falling from N776.9 to N803.9.
Since the new measures were implemented, the Naira has cumulatively appreciated by 70% (N321.23) and 7.0% (N58) in the I&E window and parallel market, respectively.
The closing rate for last week also showed that the parallel market margin, which had nearly vanished as a result of the new policy, had begun to expand.
Although the CBN’s measures were intended to increase transparency and boost confidence in order to draw in more foreign exchange supply, forex market participants have said the anticipated increase in supply has not yet occurred.
They added that this, along with rising demand and hoarding, are the factors causing the naira to once again depreciate in both segments of the foreign exchange market.
