The Naira's value continued its decline on Monday, with the parallel market rate depreciating further to 1,515 Naira to a dollar, marking a 2.97 percent decrease (N45/$1) compared to the N1,470 rate on Friday, according to BusinessDay.

This decline persisted despite a slight increase of 0.4 percent in Nigeria's external reserves, reaching a four-week high of $32.4 billion as of May 8, 2024.

To intervene in the retail forex market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumed dollar sales to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in February. The CBN has conducted three rounds of dollar sales to BDCs since then. During the latest round, the CBN offered to sell $10,000 to each BDC, directing them to sell at a maximum margin of 1.5 percent.

However, BDC operators have raised concerns about the slow disbursement of dollars from the CBN, which takes three to four weeks from the payment to disbursement. Vanguard reports that due to this delay and the forex market's uncertainty, some BDCs have requested the CBN to refund their Naira payments.