The naira suffered more setbacks as it exchanged to the dollars at 480/$ at the parallel market on Friday.

In mid February, it had exchanged at 473/$ at the parallel market.

At the Investors & Exporters forex window, it reached a high of 415/$ on Friday.

Recently, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the naira depreciated at the official market to 410 against the dollar.

Emefiele, who spoke at a summit on the economy by Bank CEOs in Lagos recently, said the drop in crude oil earnings and the associated reduction in foreign portfolio inflows significantly affected the supply of foreign exchange into Nigeria.

“In order to adjust for the decrease in supply of foreign exchange, the naira depreciated at the official window from 305/$ to 360/$ and now hovers around 410/$,” he said.

Figures obtained from the CBN showed that external reserves dropped by $1.1bn in February.

The reserves which stood at $36.19bn as of February 1 fell to $35.09bn as of February 26.

Emefiele said Nigeria’s external reserves at $35bn was sufficient to finance the country’s seven months’ imports.

He said, “With the decline in our foreign exchange earnings and subsequent adjustments in the value of the naira vis-à-vis the dollar, the CBN has continued to implement a demand management framework, which is designed to support improved production of items that can be produced in Nigeria, and further conservation of our external reserves.

“These measures have helped to prevent a significant decline in our reserves.

“Our external reserves currently stand at over $35bn and is sufficient to cover more than seven months of import of goods and services, even though the international rule of thumb is for reserves to cover about three months of imports.”