Naira crashes against dollar, now trades at N490/$1

The Nigerian Naira has crashed against the dollar, and now sells at N490/$1in black market, three days to the end of the year.

Currency analysts expect the naira to weaken further to 500/dollar before the end of the year.

And according to Kunle Ezun, a currency analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, the challenge at the forex market is still the supply issue; price (exchange rate), which is determined by the interplay of demand and supply.

Naira crashes against dollar, now trades at N490/$1

The local currency has been under persistent pressure both at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets owing to the acute shortage of the United States currency.

Currency dealers said the consistent clampdown on black market operators by security agents had driven some currency retailers’ underground, putting more pressure on available dollars.

The Naira also crashed to N590 per pound as against the N580 rate of yesterday and N502 per Euro as against the N490 rate of yesterday.