With the expected commencement of sales of dollars to bureau de change operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday, September 7, 2020, the naira regained some of its value as it sold between N440 and N435 to the dollar on the streets yesterday.
The naira, which had been on a downward spiral since government gave indications of commencement of international travels and a full reopening of the economy, had depreciated to as low as N490 before settling around N477 last week.
However, its value shored up on the hope of availability of foreign exchange at the bureau de change segment of the market, dousing the rising speculation in the market. On Monday, black market traders had refused to show quotes as panic set in with the expected commencement of dollar sales to BDCs.
At the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) market also known as the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the value of the naira appreciated slightly closing at N386 to the dollar from N386.03 which it opened yesterday’s trading activities.
Commenting on the resumption of forex sales to BDCs, national president of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe described it as a welcome development noting that it will help ease some of the pressure on the naira.
He noted further that while the resumption will see the BDCs getting fewer forex than they used to get, the association is reaching out to its members to ensure that they comply with all regulations.
Meanwhile, the 30-days moving average of the external reserves of the country rose to $35.66 billion as at August 27, 2020 according to latest data on the website of the CBN.
The reserves had trended downwards to $35.598 billion as at August 19, but had begun a slow rise as oil price appreciated at the global market.