Naira Crashes To N420.46 At CBN Official Window, Loses 2.11% Value In Eight Months

The naira has crashed to N420.46 per dollar at the Central Bank of Nigeria controlled window.

Data from the apex bank website shows that the naira plunged 1.64 per cent to N420.46 on August 17, from N413.67 recorded on January 4, 2022.

This is the worst official decline in the history of Africa’s biggest economy.

The naira was N411.74 per dollar on January 4, 2022 and has lost N8.72 or 2.1 per cent in the last eight months.

Aside the woe faced by the regulator to control the official fall of the naira, the currency also trails at the parallel market controlled by Bureau de Change operators.

As of Wednesday, August 17, the naira was N678 per dollar at the parallel market.

THE WHISTLER had reported on July 27, that naira depreciated to N710 per dollar at the parallel market that has become the most common market to exchange dollar.

Nigeria is facing foreign exchange shortages that is hampering forex obligations.

But since 2020, the bank has been making policy adjustments to curb the situation.

One of the policies was the introduction of the Naira4Dollar Scheme”, launched on March 8, 2021 to boost the inflow of diaspora remittances into the the economy.

On May 24, 2021, CBN adopted the NAFEX rate as the benchmark rate which pushed the official rate from N379 to N410 per dollar.

This was in a bid to harmonize the CBN rate and the NAFEX rate as advised by the International Monetary Fund.

In June 2021, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, banned BDC operators from its weekly dollar rationing.

In February 2022, the bank introduced the RT200 FX Programme, an initiative which aims to raise $200 billion in Foreign Exchange repatriation.