The liquidity crisis in the foreign exchange market seems not to be easing off as the Naira depreciated further in the parallel market, popularly known as the black market on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
According to Aboki fx, the local currency, naira, depreciated against both the US dollars and the British pounds at the parallel market.
The naira crashed to N430 to a dollar as against the N425 that it sold the previous day and N500 to a pound sterling as against the N495 it was sold for the previous day.
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This is coming against the background of Nigeria’s premium grade crude oil, Bonny light selling below the $10 per barrel mark due to huge discounts on prices as the slump in oil demand continues.
The NNPC yesterday suggested that it might suspend crude oil production if the crash in prices, low oil demand and global storage crisis persists.
This is a new 3-year low for the parallel market as the foreign exchange inflow continues to dwindle rapidly thereby putting further pressure on the foreign exchange market.
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The demand for dollars by importers and speculators far outweighs the supply, thereby putting further pressure on the country’s external reserve.
Crude oil is on a reversal. Its presently $11.8 per barrel but Nigeria wont feel the impact due to its reckless financial policy and lack of crisis management exit plan during the crude oil crash