Naira Appreciates To N295 Against Dollar

Exchange rate of a U.S. dollar to naira dropped yesterday to N295 following expectation that Central Bank of Nigeria will start selling forex to Bureau De Change this week.

Survey in major Nigeria cities indicated that the dollar sells between N294 and N292 from its usual N300 and N305.

N4 appreciation in paralle market in Lagos, Abuja sells N295, Kano sells N298. But naira may depreciate more if expectations of operators are not met regarding policy reversal from CBN to start selling forex to them.

According to Vanguard, the President of the Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said that while the expectation that CBN will start selling autonomous dollars to BDCs made the parallel market rate to fall to as low as N285 per dollar in the afternoon, the rate, however, rose to N295 towards the end of the day when expectation did not materialize.