Nigerians ‘hoard naira’ as dollar swings between 400, 470

The naira, which has been on a path of recovery, traded between 400 and 470 to the dollar at the parallel market on Friday.

According to traders in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, the dollar went as low as 400, as traders and other Nigerians began to keep naira, in place of the US dollar.

Ibrahim Baba, a forex trader in Abuja, said the dollar however stabilised at about N450 by the close of business on Friday.

“Market has been dropping; in the morning it was very bad, but this evening, it has gotten better, it is now at 450. It was at 400, 410, 420, different rates in the morning,” he said

“Some people said they are not buying at such low rates, they are hiding their naira. We think the dollar would drop further.”

Speaking on how much drop they anticipate in the coming week, Baba said “we are expecting the dollar to stabilise at 380, 395, or a maximum of 400, and it can be as soon as Monday”.

A trader at Alade Market in Lagos said that the local currency closed at 465 to the dollar in the state, after trading at various prices from 400 to 470.

The naira has been gaining dramatically, since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced fresh policy actions to make the dollar readily available for travellers and Nigerians schooling abroad.

The CBN has since pumped nearly $500 million dollars into the forex market, sending the parallel market into unexpected trading territories.

The British pound and the euro closed the day at N570 and N480 respectively.