Naira depreciates against dollar

The Naira, on Wednesday, depreciated against the dollar in the parallel market.
The Naira traded for N226, N247, and N345 against the dollar, Euro and Pounds respectively, in the parallel market on Wednesday afternoon as against N224, N247, and 348 it sold on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the official interbank rate remained at N197 to a dollar.
A financial analyst, Prof. Sheriffadeen Tella, of the Department of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, attributed the current fluctuation in the parallel market to the activities of currency speculators.
Tella said in Lagos that currency speculators have been buying off the dollar to create artificial scarcity at the parallel market.
The financial analyst said that there was no truth in the reports that the delisting of Nigeria’s Bond Index by JP Morgan was affecting the performance of the Naira at the international market.
“The delisting of Nigeria by JP Morgan had no effect on the performance of the Naira at the international market, rather it was the activities of currency speculators that is affecting it.
“There is massive naira conversion to dollars underground by speculators in the guise that government may bring up policies that would adversely affect the Naira,’’ Tella said.