Forex turnover at the NAFEX window where investors and exporters trade forex hits about $1.57 billion between June and July 17th,2020, according to data sourced from the website of the FMDQOTC over the last few weeks.
Forex turnover at the FMDQOTC has averaged $47 million over the last 32 days as investors and exporters jostle for dollar supplies.
According to the data, the highest single-day forex sales were $204 million which occurred on the 2nd of July 2020. Since then, daily sales have been below $50 million except for July 7th and 16th where turn over crossed $100 million.
Several reports suggest pent up demand could be anywhere between $1.5 billion to $2 billion which includes outstanding dividends to be repatriated, forex outflow from foreign portfolio investors among others.
Based on the suggested demand, critics of the CBN’s forex policy believe the forex turnover at the I&E window is not enough to support demand piling pressure on the parallel market.
The exchange rate at the NAFEX window oscillated betweenN387 -N389/$1 and closed at N388.5/$1 on Friday.
At the black market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate closed at N470/$1 last week and as high as N490/$1 for online transfers. The disparity between the NAFEX and parallel market rate has widened since March when oil prices began its steep fall and the COVID-19 pandemic hit Nigeria’s shores.
