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The naira crashed to a record low of N251 against the dollar at the parallel market on Saturday from N247 per dollar last Thursday.

Towards the end of November, the exchange rate at the parallel market hovered around N222 per dollar. The sharp drop in the parallel market rate began on Wednesday after the Central Bank of Nigeria refused to sell foreign exchange to some bureau de change operators who failed to render accounts on the utilization of previous forex bought at the official window.

The official naira exchange rate still stands at N196.97 per dollar, according to latest figures posted on the CBN’s website.

The CBN has been tightening its forex policies as pressure continues to mount on the naira in the face of low oil prices, which have slashed government revenues by over 40 percent. In June, the CBN banned the sale of foreign exchange for the importation of some 41 items.

As at December 3rd, Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at $29.7 billion. After falling by over 25 percent from $39.6 billion on August 29, 2014 to $29.6 billion on May 28, 2015, the reserves marginally rose to $31.3 billion on August 31 this year and have been steadily dropping since then to the latest figure.

Chibuike Oguh is Financial Nigeria's Frontier Markets Analyst