Naira depreciates against dollar at parallel market

The naira on Wednesday depreciated against the dollar, after making a rebound on Monday at the parallel market.

The currency lost N1 to the dollar as it exchanged for N225 against N224 it exchanged previously. The official rate at the interbank window remained at N197.

Traders at the parallel market told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the demand for the dollar had been putting pressure on the naira, forcing it to depreciate in value.

A financial expert, Evans Osabuohien, of the Department of Economics and Developmental Studies, Covenant University, Ota in Ogun, attributed the fall in naira to Nigerians’ preference for imported goods.

Osabuohien said that the demand for dollar for importation had put undue pressure on the nation’s currency.

He, however, expressed hope that the naira might experience a rebound in December when many Nigerians doing business abroad would come back with a lot of dollars.