The Naira fell further on Wednesday to 230 to the dollar on the parallel market, driven by pressure from importers excluded from the interbank market, currency traders said.
It traded at 228 to the dollar on Tuesday and was at 220 last Wednesday, the day the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced new rules curbing importers’ access to the interbank market to source greenbacks to buy a wide range of items.
“The market is very volatile now as a result of the restrictions placed on about 41 items by the central bank. Most importers are now patronising the parallel market to source their dollars,” Harrison Owoh, the head of a foreign exchange bureau told Reuters.
The naira was trading at 198.95 to the dollar on the interbank market on Wednesday.
CBN lowered its exchange rate peg to 196.95 to the dollar on Tuesday from 196.90 last week.
