Naira hits record low of 400 against the dollar

The fall in the value of the naira is yet to abate as the Nigerian currency exchanged for N400 to a dollar Thursday at the parallel market.

Fresh pressure on the naira since last week Thursday has seen the currency fall further from N318 to N400 to a dollar.

Financial experts linked the persistent fall of the naira to panic buying of the dollar and other major hard currencies by importers, individuals and businessmen.

Tumbling global oil prices have battered Africa’s top crude exporter, with foreign exchange reserves down to an 11-year low at $27.85 billion by Feb. 11.

Nigerian government is concerned that further depreciation will hurt poor Nigerians, but the bank’s refusal to revise the pegged exchange rate has widened a chasm between official rates and the parallel market.

President Muhammadu Buhari, while in London, said that his government decided to stop the sale of foreign exchange to bureau de change operators because of fraudulent acts perpetrated by some top officers of the CBN. According to him, some directors of CBN own bureau de change and when foreign exchange comes, they take it to their companies and give government the change.