Naira depreciated at the official market yesterday as it moved from N839.48 to N850.22 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX), FMDQ Security Exchange Limited. NAFEX is the reference rate for Spot FX operations in the Autonomous FX Market which comprises recognized FX trading segments, including but not limited to the Inter-bank market, the I&E FX Window and any such approved and recognised trading segment as may be defined.
However, experts have blamed hoarders and speculators for the drop in the value of naira. A Capital Market executive, Samuel Showunmi, said artificial pricing largely due to hoarding and speculating of the FX is currently responsible for the huge disparity between the two currencies. Showunmi, who is a Capital Market executive at Iron Global Markets Limited (a subsidiary of) Iron Capital, an Africa-focused investment banking franchise based in Africa with a representative office in London, said the government must address the situation through a carrot and stick approach