Naira Slides Further to N575/$ Despite CBN’s Assurance

The naira has been facing consistent downslope for quite some time. On Thursday, it slides again to N575 despite assurances by the Central Bank of Nigeria that there is sufficient foreign exchange to meet the legitimate needs of Nigerians.

The naira maintained a downward trend, falling to 570/$ on Friday morning from N490/$ before the CBN stopped forex sale to the Bureau De Change operators in July.

As part of efforts to solve naira crisis, the CBN on Friday vowed to clampdown on Abokifx, an intermediate online forex publication. This led AbokiFX to suspend publication of its forex rates of naira to other currencies.

The naira fell, despite the suspension to N580 on Monday, and traded around 575 to the dollar as of Thursday at the parallel market.

Similarly, on Thursday, the naira hit a high of N415.20 to close at N413.63 at the Investor & Exporter forex window.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesperson, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, had said the apex bank remained committed to meeting the foreign exchange request of travellers with legitimate needs as they related to travel allowances, payment of tuition and medical fees among other invisibles.

“There is enough supply of foreign exchange to the banks to meet legitimate demands for foreign exchange,” he said.