Buhari Focuses On Corruption As Naira Slides To 257 Against The Dollar

Nigeria’s President Buhari who has repeatedly refused to devalue the Nigerian naira against experts advice looks on as the Nigerian economy suffers recession.

The naira fell to 257 against the dollar at the parallel market on Thursday. The local currency had traded against the greenback at between 251 and 252 on Wednesday.

The naira has been falling since last Wednesday when the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped the sale of foreign exchange to some Bureaux de Change operators for failing to render returns on the utilisation of previous forex purchases.

The exclusion of the BDCs from the weekly forex sale, which continued on Wednesday, has been creating shortage of dollars, causing the greenback to rise at the parallel market.

However, the local currency traded at 198.97 to the dollar at the official interbank market on Thursday. The naira-dollar exchange rate has been moving between 197 and 199 at the official interbank market since February.

The central bank had sold $30.5m to 1,017 BDCs on Wednesday but excluded around 1,801 others from its weekly sale.