Breaking: FOREX: Naira plunges to N811/$1 on P2P market

The exchange rate on the parallel market plunged to N805/$1 on Wednesday, July 12th, 2023 according to checks by this online medium.

The exchange rate at the crypto P2P exchange market was even worse as it traded at an average of N811.02/$1 on Wednesday 12th July 2023. It was N810/$1 as of Thursday morning. 

Nigeria’s currency has been under pressure in recent days as the holiday season draws near piling pressure on demand for the greenback.

The exchange rate between the naira and the Euro traded at an average of N855/£1 on July 12, 2023. This indicates a 0.59% decrease from the N850/£1 recorded in the previous trading session on July 11th, 2023.

Meanwhile, on the official Investor and Exporter Window, the exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar at the official I&E window closed at N782.49 to US dollar on Wednesday, July 12th, 2023.  

This represents a 0.75% increase from the previous day’s closing rate of N788.42/$1. 

• The exchange rate opened at N775.75/$1 and sold to as high as N806/$1. The lowest level in the session was N690/$1.
• The sum of forex turnover at the I&E window increased by 32.92% to $90.52 million, from the previous day’s turnover of $68.1 million.
• The total turnover that exchanged hands from the beginning of the month to date is $680 million, compared to the turnover value of $1.02 billion recorded in the same period in June 2023.
• This represented a variance of $340 million in the first 8 trading days of July, compared to the same period in June.
  

The nation’s external reserve increased marginally by 0.05% to $34.08 billion as of July 102023, compared to $34.06 billion recorded on the previous day. 

BDC wants a seat on the table: Nairametrics reported earlier that BDC operators had requested increased participation and involvement in the foreign exchange market to ensure the success of the new exchange rate policy implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). 

• The President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadebe, stated that despite the new exchange rate policy by the CBN, the foreign exchange market remains volatile because BDCs are excluded from the I&E window.  

New IMTO rules: In another development, the central bank has issued a letter to all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), and the general public, announcing the inclusion of the Naira as a payout option for diaspora remittances.

• In a circular referenced TED/FEM/PC/GEN/01/011, dated November 30, 2020, the CBN introduced the payout option in response to the growing need for flexibility in remittance receipt.
• To ensure transparency and consistency, the CBN also mandated that IMTOs use the Investors’ & Exporters’ Window rate as the anchor rate on the day of the transaction when paying out the remittance proceeds.