PUNCH NEWS
Airfares on Nigeria routes to various destinations in Europe, North America, Middle East and other foreign cities have skyrocketed as exchange rate for ticket pricing hits N702/$, according to findings by The PUNCH.
The development came barely one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria floated the naira and directed commercial banks to sell foreign exchange at market-determined rates.
As part of its moves to end multiple exchange rates that have left to the exit of several investors from Nigeria, the CBN last week introduced new forex guidelines aimed at unifying the nation’s exchange rate.
Among others things, the CBN said all forex windows should be collapsed into the Investors &Exporters Window.
About 24 hours after the decision, the naira traded at 664.04/dollar at the I&E window. Two days later, the local currency closed at 702.19/dollar at the close of business on Thursday.
Following the development, findings by The PUNCH on Monday revealed that exchange rate adopted by the International Air Transport Association for ticket pricing in Nigeria rose to N702/dollar.
In previous months, the exchange rate adopted by international airlines for ticket pricing had risen consecutively from about N445/dollar to about N660/dollar about two weeks ago…