By Ogaga Ariemu
The Naira continued its depreciation against the US dollar at the close of the official foreign exchange market on Friday, days after Binance’s discontinued Naira-denominated transactions.
FMDQ data showed that it dropped to N1627.40 per USD on Friday from N1,602.17 on Monday.
This represents a N25.23 or 1.5 per cent depreciation at the official forex market on Friday.
The depreciation comes despite the surge in the turnover of USD at the official market, which is $269.35 million.
In the last week, the Naira had shedded N93.21 compared to the N1,534.19 per USD it started trading on Monday, March 4.
Recall that on Tuesday, Binance announced that it would no longer trade in Naira on March 8 after a sustained regulatory clampdown by the Nigerian government.
Nigeria commenced restricting Binance and other cryptocurrency platform operations on its cyberspace on February 21 shortly after the Special Adviser on Information & Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, Bayo Onanuga, called for it.
According to Onanuga, cryptocurrency platforms undermine the Naira in the foreign exchange market.
Earlier, Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, at the 293rd Monetary Policy Committee meeting, rued the activities of Binance in the country.
He said $26 billion was funnelled through Binance without a trace.
