The value of the naira had within two months, depreciated by 16.1 per cent or N80 from N495 at which it was being sold in July, to N575 as at Monday morning. The depreciation of the value of the local currency had begun just after the CBN announced that it will no longer be selling foreign exchange to bureau de change operators.
Despite several assurances by the CBN as well as commercial banks that there is enough foreign exchange to meet legitimate demand, the value of the naira kept depreciating. This, according to analysts was spurred by speculators who were expecting the value of the currency to fall as low as N600 or N700 to a dollar.