The dollar has crashed to between N805 to N790 at the parallel exchange market on Tuesday Daily Trust can authoritatively report.
It started a steady decline from N925 to N930 that it was exchanged in the morning till around 4:00 pm when news about a possible Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention filtered through to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
Recall that the CBN announced plans to take critical decisions to reverse the slide of the naira in the next few days, thereby resulting in significant losses to the speculators.
The acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, dropped the hint on Monday while briefing State House reporters after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
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Checks by our reporters at Allen Avenue and Bagada in Lagos suggest that the BDCs are buying at N900 and selling at N910, after touching N970 to the dollar earlier in the day.
At the Wapa forex market in Kano, the BDCs are buying at N875 and selling at N905 to the dollar.
Further checks at Zone 4 BDCs market in Abuja revealed how the money speculators in the area were taken unawares by the development.
However, at the Investors and Exporters window, the dollar opened at N789/$, got to a high of N799/$ and a low of N740/$ and eventually closed at N774/4, N10 higher than the N764/$ it closed the previous day.
Reacting to the development, one of the money exchange operators who spoke to our reporter said, the dollar may crash further adding that many people will lose money because they purchased the dollar at a higher rate than what it is being exchanged for.
A customer who spoke to Daily Trust said, he asked about the exchange rate in the morning and was told it is being exchanged at N930 to a dollar.
He however said on coming to exchange it in the evening he was told that it has crashed adding that, the first price he was told was N850, but in less than 30 minutes, it crashed to N790 and when he was left without a choice, he has to exchange it at N790.
One of the BDC operators at Zone 4, Ibrahim Muhammad informed Daily Trust on the telephone, that the crash has caused a sudden turn of events that will cause a huge loss to many people in the parallel exchange market.
“They have just sent the BDCs bidding eligibility list to us. Nobody can predict what will happen next.
“If this happens after the meeting, what will happen after the CBN comes up with a new intervention policy to shore up the Naira can just be imagined. So, for now, we are waiting to see what happens tomorrow. It may appreciate a little, but it may also crash further. It is still being exchanged between N800 and N790 as we speak”.
By Balarabe Alkassim & Sunday M Ogwu (Abuja), Clement Oloyede (Kano) & Abiodun Alade (Lagos)
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