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Naira falls on parallel market as dollar demand rises

By BusinessNews Staff on August 13, 2015

The naira eased against the dollar on the parallel market on Tuesday driven by demand mainly from individuals travelling abroad for summer holidays and importers, traders said.
The local currency was quoted at N224 to the greenback on the unofficial market, 0.89 per cent weaker from N222 the previous day, Reuters quoted some traders to have said.
On the official interbank market, the naira ended at N197, a level it has been stuck at following a central bank’s peg on the exchange rate in February.
“We’ve seen a surge in dollar demand … since Friday,” Harrison Owoh, a Nigerian bureaux de change (BDCs) agent said, adding that the central bank may sell dollars this week.
Owoh said the bank sold around $160 million to BDCs last week to increase dollar supply.
BDCs are allowed to sell up to $4,000 as personal travelling allowance and $5,000 as business travelling allowance.
However, individuals sometimes buy above the stipulated dollar limit from the undocumented parallel market.
The naira firmed to N216 on the parallel market last week after commercial lenders stop accepting hard currency cash deposits on central bank orders, fuelling excess dollar liquidity on the parallel market.

[ThisDay]

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