Nigeria’s naira currency eased 2.17 percent against the dollar on the parallel market on Monday after the central bank cut dollar supply to bureaux de change operators in a bid to conserve forex reserves, traders said.
The national currency traded at 235 to the dollar on the parallel market compared with 230 a dollar on Friday, but remained unchanged at 197 to the dollar on the official interbank market.
“The central bank has reduced the amount of dollar sold to bureaux de change at its twice-weekly intervention, which has also been cut to once a week now,” Harrison Owoh, a bureau de change operator said.
He said the reduction in volume of dollar sales by the central bank coupled with year-end surged in demand for foreign currencies by importers have impacted negatively on the local currency.