The value of the Naira went down on Tuesday at the forex change markets after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced new cash withdrawal limits via over-the-counter (OTC) and other channels, IgbereTV reports
CBN on Tuesday announced that it was limiting cash withdrawals at OTC N100,000 for individuals, with a 5 per cent processing fee for amounts above the cap. For corporate organisations, the limit is N500,000, with a 10 per cent charge for amounts above the limit.
Limitations were also placed on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with a daily limit of N20,000 and instructions to load only N200 and low Naira denomination In ATMs.
This new policy affected the value of the Naira from Peer-to-Peer (P2P), the parallel market, and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) windows.
In the parallel market, the local currency depreciated against its US counterpart by N5 to close at N730/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N725/$1.
Also, at the P2P FX window Naira exchanged with the Dollar at N760/$1 compared with the previous day’s N739/$1, indicating a decline of N21.
Also, in the I&E window, the Naira depreciated against the greenback by 47 Kobo or 0.11 per cent to trade at N445.80/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s value of N445.33/$1.
This happened amid a jump in the FX turnover for the trading day by 200.2 per cent or $120.23 million to $180.29 million from Monday’s $60.06 million, according to data from FMDQ Securities Exchange.
Similarly, Naira plunged against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N4.82 to settle at N547.15/£1 versus N542.33/£1, and against the Euro, it fell by N5.80 to close at N470.78/€1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N464.98/€1.
