Forex scarcity: Naira weakens against major currencies

It was a bad outing for the Nigerian currency on Thursday at the parallel market as it weakened against all three major currencies.
Naira lost three points to the dollar as it closed at N493 to a dollar, against N490 it traded on Wednesday.
Also, the Pound Sterling and the Euro exchanged for N595 and N506, respectively.
At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira traded at N399 to a dollar, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) controlled rate, while Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N598 and N510 respectively.
The Naira, however, remained stable at the interbank window as it exchanged for N305 to a dollar.
Traders at the market said that liquidity challenge was far from being resolved.
In his comments, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), while decrying the spike in the exchange rate, commended the CBN for keeping it below N500 to a dollar.
Gwadabe said that the task of keeping the dollar below N500 and controlling the inflation rate was enormous, adding that the apex bank was doing its best.
The ABCON chief said that people who speculated or forecast on the continued depreciation of the Naira were doing so for their personal reasons.
The previous forecasts in 2016 on the ability of Diaspora remittances to cushion the pressures on the Naira did not materialise during the Yuletide.