Market News

BY  Nike Popoola

The naira fell slightly at the parallel market on Monday, as it exchanged to the dollar for N460/$ as of the close of work.

The naira had exchanged to the dollar on Friday for 458/$.

This is as the country’s external reserves continued to maintain its downward trend.

Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that the country’s external reserves which stood at $35.75bn as of October 02 had lost $78.34m to close at $35.67bn as of October 16.

The CBN had stated in its report on ‘Monetary, credit, foreign trade and exchange policy guidelines for fiscal years 2020/2021’ that external reserves were expected to lie between $29.9bn and $34.3bn by 2020 ending.

It said, “Sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic, the viability of the external sector in 2020 is expected to deteriorate, given the present worsening current account balance and depletion of external reserves driven, largely, by decelerating export receipts, particularly oil.

“Specifically, the degree of external reserves accumulation is expected to decelerate, as outflows are expected to outweigh inflows.

“As a result, external reserves are expected to lie between $29.9bn and $34.3bn at end-December 2020 (predicated on current declining oil price between $20 and $40).”