Naira falls as CBN introduces forex promo

Naira fell marginally against the U.S. dollar on the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, the first business day after the Central Bank of Nigeria announced a new incentive for diaspora remittances.

The CBN directed all Deposit Money Banks and International Money Transfer Operators to henceforth pay recipients of diaspora remittances N5 for every $1 received as inflow.

On Monday, Naira closed at N411.88 on the I&E window, a 0.21 per cent depreciation from N411.00 which it closed at the previous session on Friday, according to data from the FMDQ Security Exchange where forex is officially traded showed.

The currency experienced an intraday high of N390.00 and a low of N412.00. The turnover dipped by 61.17 per cent, with $32.58 million recorded as against the $83.9 million posted on Friday.

The currency also lost at the parallel market.

Data posted on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel market rates, showed the currency closed at N482.00, a 0.42 per cent depreciation from N480.00 it exchanged hands on Friday.

As a result of this, the spread between the unofficial market and the I&E window exchange rate is pegged at N70.12, which translates to a gap of 14.54 per cent.