Dollar to hit ₦2000 by December 2023.

A worrisome development.

It is evident to every Nigerian that the Naira has depreciated by 21 per cent to N930 per dollar in the parallel market, and by 66 per cent to N781.34 per dollar in the official market, namely the Investors and Exporters, I&E window.

This is worrisome, as this trend will translate to further increase in price of goods and services, higher inflation rate, given that most of what Nigerians consume are imported or have significant import components. These include petroleum products, wheat, raw materials etc.

This depreciation of the Naira is as a result of new operational measures for the forex market announced by the CBN on June 14 and a continuous declining forex supply. This trend will continue for a while until forex supply (inflow) exceeds the huge demand for forex and thus increase in the Net Forex Inflow and the external reserves. Financial analysis indicate that the dollar might eventually rise to ₦2000 by December 2023 due to this factors and a possible funding of the ECOWAS army intervention in Niger, before possibly stabilizing at ₦700 sometime in 2024. It wouldn’t be out of place to say tougher times await Nigerians, only time will tell.