The nation’s currency, the naira, on Monday lost N1.92k to the US dollar at the inter-bank market as there was no foreign exchange supply from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and oil majors.
This is coming after the two-day festive holidays, marking the Christmas celebration.
After trading on Monday, the local currency closed at N183.10k/$ compared to N181.18k/$ on Wednesday last week, according to the data obtained from Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ).
The naira depreciation was attributed to increased demand for the greenback by the end users of foreign currency.
The usual twice weekly Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) could not hold on Monday as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had closed forex auction for the year.
Meanwhile, the local currency on Monday gained N0.50k/$ at the parallel market as it closed at N191.00k/$ as against N191.50k/$.
On Wednesday, last week, before the holiday naira lost N4.50k to the US dollar at the parallel market as the official window remained closed.
A review of naira performance for the year indicates that on a year-to-date basis, the local currency has depreciated by 9.30% (or N14.30) at the official market segment to N168.00/USD as at December 24, 2014 (from N153.70/USD).
