Traders in the nation's foreign exchange market have said that the cost of borrowing for Nigeria jumped on Monday, June 29, just as the naira weakened again following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) new foreign exchange rules to conserve scarce reserves.
The naira had traded at N226 to the dollar on the parallel market, down 2.7 per cent since Wednesday, June 24, when the CBN introduced rules to stop importers from sourcing dollars on the interbank market to buy a range of items.
On the interbank market, the currency closed at N198.90 to a dollar, just as the central bank's clearing rate depreciated slightly by five kobo to N196.95 to a dollar, from N196.90 to a dollar.
South Africa's NKC African Economics, Cobus de Hart, said: "The fact that the forex controls introduced by the central bank have contributed to a wider gap between the official and parallel exchange markets is not surprising and should add upward pressure on inflation moving forward."