The naira has continued its downward trend, falling to ?702 per dollar at the parallel market on Monday.
The figure represents ?10 or 1.4 percent depreciation compared to the ?692 it traded last week.
Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos and Abuja, who spoke to newsmen, said that there is high demand for foreign currency in the street market.
The street traders, popularly known as ‘abokis‘ put the buying price of the dollar at ?690 and the selling price at ?700-?702, leaving a profit margin of ?10-?12.
Last month, the naira weakened to ?707 a dollar. It later strengthened to ?670 after security operatives raided a BDC hub in Abuja.
At the official market, the local currency appreciated 0.08 percent against the dollar to close at ?430.33 at the end of the last trading day (Friday), according to FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees foreign-exchange trading in nigeria.
An exchange rate of ?444 to the dollar was the highest rate recorded within the day’s trading before it settled at ?430.33.
It sold for as low as ?417 to the dollar within the day’s trading. A total of $82.38 million traded in foreign exchange at the official investors and exporters window.
Recently, the Central Bank of nigeria (CBN) released $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sales.
The move followed complaints by foreign airlines over their inability to repatriate revenue from nigeria.