The Naira grew against the dollar at the interbank market last week, after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raise the supply of the dollar by 50 per cent. The apex bank sold $300 million to end-users at N150 per dollar at the wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) representing about $ 100 million increase over dollar sales in the past two months but short of $322.46 million demanded at the action.
The foreign exchange (forex) traders believed that the fact that CBN was able to meet the bulk of dollar demanded at its auction on Wednesday helped the naira to regain some ground at the interbank. They demand that dollars remained stronger, but expected some increase in supply of dollar by the CBN early this week.
The managing director and chief executive officer Digare BDC Limited, Mr Jelili Ajibola said that naira may further weaken if federal government implements the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector of the economy.
His words: Nigerians should forget about deregulation of the oil sector as it will worsen our economy and devalue the naira more.
He said there are lots of interests in this campaign adding that the same politicians that are calling for deregulation would hoard petroleum products to increase prices in order to make abnormal profit when deregulation is finally implemented.
He also pointed out that with the relative stability in the Niger Delta, there is every tendency that oil production would increase thereby boosting the nation’s reserves.
He insisted that deregulation would further worsen the standard of living of the economically changed Nigerians.
Managing director and chief executive officer, Yomade BDC Limited, Usmand Suleiman said that deregulation would encourage inflation and that the poor would suffer the most. He stated that, even when workers salaries are increased, their pay would still not be able to cater for their needs. He added that, the prices of food stuff would skyrocket because fuel prices would definitely increase thereby affecting transportation fare.
He advised government to resuscitate the refineries and build new ones, provided social amenities such as stable power to encourage small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in the country.
Also speaking Adeboye Adenuga, managing director and chief executive officer, Dambis BDC Limited said that the reason for the appreciation of the naira over the dollar was due to falling demand for foreign exchange by the operator as they now find it difficult to access loan from banks.
Equally he added, that currency traders who used to sorrow from banks have started recalling facilities.
According to him, “The situation is affecting those with genuine business, as many of them no longer have access to naira to purchase foreign exchange for importation. This recent appreciation of the naira is due to the result of the CBN reform programmes in the banking sector.
He further wished that government should find a way of employing law enforcement agencies that would take charge in controlling the activities of the black marketers till sanity is restored in the forex business.
Mr Adeboye Adenuga added that the economy is not moving but people can no longer buy forex as much as before to import finished goods, noting that even those who travel to Dubai for trading purposes no longer do so, as many banks now find it difficult to support such trades. He advised that government should be able to develop local industries by improving infrastructure. Adenuga argued the aggregate supply for forex to the market is not enough also that there are lots of loopholes in the market which must be blocked to move the economy forward.

Aluka Anita O