Due to rising demand from Nigerians who convert dollars as a store of value, the Naira, Nigeria's currency, depreciated to its lowest level ever on Wednesday, 27.07.2022, falling to N710 per dollar at the black market.
Since the beginning of the year, when it was valued at N565 per dollar on the black market, the Naira has fallen by 20.42 percent at the current rate.
Business Day said on Monday that due to an uncontrollable increase in demand for the dollar among Nigerians, the local currency may hit N700 per dollar by the end of the week.The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) banned the sale of foreign currency to bureau de change operators a year prior to today's record decline.
Due to their illicit sales of foreign exchange above the market they were authorized to serve, the BDC operators' purchase of foreign currency had previously been restricted by the central bank. BDC operators were a significant component of the black market before the prohibition, offering exchange rate assistance to customers who couldn't legally get foreign dollars directly from the CBN.
The currency exchange rate was approximately N501 to a dollar when CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele forbade the sale of foreign currencies to BDC. However, the value of the naira fell to N670 to the dollar a year following the prohibition. However, Mr. Emefiele has come under fire for neglecting to implement measures that would have helped to stabilize the value of the country's currency on the foreign exchange market. When Godwin Emefiele took over as governor of the central bank in March 2014, the naira was trading for N164 to the dollar in the Investors and Exporters window. As of Wednesday, it was trading for N430.In the black market, the Naira dropped from N180 to the dollar in 2014 to N710 on Wednesday.
I'm curious as to how these old men, who identify as leaders, can sleep soundly at night when firms are calculating their losses due to fluctuating currency rates that threaten their trading profits.
EVEN IF YOU SAVE ONE NAIRA DAILY FOR A YEAR, YOU WILL NOT GET A DOLLAR.