Naira firms up against dollar, trades N211/$ at parallel market

The Naira remained firm against the Dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling, according to trading at the parallel market on Wednesday.

The Naira gained a point against the Dollar to exchange N211 from the N212 it traded on Tuesday.

The Naira remained stable against the Euro and the Pound Sterling to exchange for N243 and 330 respectively.

Meanwhile, the official interbank rate remains the same at N197.

A parallel market trader based in Lagos, Abubakar Audu, said the naira appreciated because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold Dollars to operators of Bureau de Change (BDC).

Audu said that would likely be the position of the Naira when the CBN would sell to BDC operators on Friday.

Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau de Change

Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) recently told Hallmark that the present stability of the naira is traceable to decision of the apex bank to stop cash deposit of dollar into domiciliary accounts and increased surveillance at the country’s borders and airports to track those carrying huge volume of dollars across the borders.

According to him, the various efforts of the CBN have started paying off.

It will be recalled that the apex had August 5, 2015 restricted cash deposit of dollars into domiciliary accounts, saying it would only allow transfer into these accounts.

It, however, stated that holders of domiciliary accounts could make cash withdrawals once it will be used for transactions that are valid for forex.

It also limited ATM withdrawals abroad to $300 per day and local ATM withdrawals to N60,000 from N100,000 daily.

And just last week, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, reiterated that the apex bank will continue to defend the naira.