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The naira exchanged at an all-time low of 409 to a dollar at the parallel market on Thursday.
This comes two days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) banned nine banks from the forex market over their failure to remit $2.334bn to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).
On Tuesday, the naira exchanged at 397 per dollar and on Wednesday it hit 402 per dollar.
Foreign exchange dealers attribute the development to demand pressure on the dollar, mounted by summer travelers and parents paying schools fees of their children studying abroad, at a time when nine lenders have been banned.
President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators, Aminu Gwadabe, was quoted as saying: “The suspension of some banks from transaction in the forex market has really increased pressure on the market”.
However, the number of suspended Deposit Money Banks have reduced to eight after the CBN readmitted United Bank for Africa Plc into the forex market on Wednesday night.