By Bashir Olanrewaju
Naira Records Biggest Daily Fall in Importers-Exporters Market
The naira fell 1.68 percent on Thursday to 422.07 per dollar to record its biggest one-day decline since the inception of the importers-exporters market.
Pressure has continued to mount on the naira exchange rate amid persisting shortage of foreign exchange since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic last year..
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s response has been to manage demand, disqualifying some imports from access to foreign currency as it sought to protect the value of the naira. The importers-exporters window was established in 2017 by the regulator to provide market-determined access to foreign currencies in Nigeria
The CBN’s demand management was criticized this week by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who pointed at the growing divergence between official and parallel rates as an incentive for arbitraging, urging instead a new approach to foreign-exchange management.
Some market analysts see the latest decline as indicative of the CBN’s move to narrow the gap between the official and the parallel market, where a dollar exchanged for 573 naira on Thursday.