Naira may depreciate to N1,993 against dollar

Nigeria’s naira has been projected to depreciate further to N1,993 per dollar in the coming days according to BMI, a Fitch Solutions subsidiary report on Weak Naira and Structural Challenges to Constrain Nigeria’s Medical Devices Market Growth.

The report noted that the forecasted depreciation will be predicated on the 95 percent dependence on imports for pharmaceuticals in Nigeria, a development it noted would erode both the health system and patient purchasing power.

This comes as Naira fell to N1681.42 and N1735 at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets on Monday, even as FMDQ FX transaction turnover dropped significantly from $1.4 billion on Friday to $471.5 million on Monday.

Last Thursday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed the country’s external reserves rose to $40 billion. However, despite CBN’s interventions and external reserves rise in the last months, the naira has continued to experience fluctuations in the FX market.