Naira Declines Further, Exchanges For 570/$

The naira continued its downward trend after exchanging to the dollar for 570 on Thursday.

A week earlier, the naira had traded to the dollar at the rate of 534.

According to the official website of the Bureau de Change operators, naijabdcs.com, the dollar was bought and sold at N568 and N570 respectively.

Meanwhile the naira hit a high of N413 to close at N412.64 at the I&E forex window on Thursday.

This was as the Central Bank of Nigeria maintained its official rate at 410.57/$ on its website.

As part of efforts to address forex shortage in the economy, the CBN ordered the banks to go tough on defaulters.

In a mail to its customers, Fidelity Bank said, “The CBN has instructed all banks to publish on their websites the names and BVNs of defaulting customers who fail to return the purchased Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance within the two-week period specified in the customer declaration form signed by them.”

It stated that its ability to provide forex for personal and business travel as well as payment for overseas education, medical and other eligible invisible transactions was hampered by a few customers attempting to circumvent the new FX Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria through unwholesome practices, including the use of fake visas and cancellation of air tickets after purchase of PTA and BTA.