The woes of the naira in the foreign exchange (forex) market will continue this week, with the country’s bartered currency possibly exchanging for N320 per US dollar, a report this morning in the authoritative Guardian said.

“The persistent crash of the naira on the parallel market may not have reached its climax as speculations are rife that the local unit will hit N320 to the dollar next week, if the shortage persists,” the newspaper said.

“Already, the initial response to the regulator’s announcement to end dollar intervention in the BDC’s segment has remained sharp, with demand for dollars rising,” The Guardian added.

It was referring to the announcement, late last week by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it has discontinued its daily auction to banks and that the banks are now to begin self-sustenance by sourcing forex by themselves.

“The development may mean that the regulator will now be intervening in the foreign exchange market occasionally and will leave banks with the determination of how much of the deposited foreign currencies by the customers will be disbursed back to them,” the report said.

CBN had on Monday unveiled a new foreign exchange plan, in which bureau de change (BDG) operators were shut out of the official weekly intervention.

This led to the naira crashing to N305 to the dollar at the parallel market as at the weekend. The official interbank market, however, remained unchanged at N199.50 per dollar.

•Photo shows CBN Headquarters.