Naira slides to 460/$ at parallel market

The naira fell slightly at the parallel market on Monday, as it exchanged to the dollar for N 460/$ as of the close of work .

The naira had exchanged to the dollar on Friday for 458/ $ .

This is as the country ’ s external reserves continued to maintain its downward trend .

Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria revealed that the country’ s external reserves which stood at $ 35 . 75 bn as of October 02 had lost $ 78 . 34 m to close at $ 35 . 67 bn as of October 16 .

The CBN had stated in its report on ‘ Monetary , credit, foreign trade and exchange policy guidelines for fiscal years 2020 / 2021 ’ that external reserves were expected to lie between $ 29 . 9 bn and $ 34 . 3 bn by 2020 ending.

It said , “ Sequel to the COVID - 19 pandemic , the viability of the external sector in 2020 is expected to deteriorate , given the present worsening current account balance and depletion of external reserves driven , largely , by decelerating export receipts , particularly oil .

“ Specifically , the degree of external reserves accumulation is expected to decelerate , as outflows are expected to outweigh inflows .