The foreign exchange (forex) rate has in the last few months fallen significantly. This has, in turn, affected the businesses of many Nigerians.
With the forex rate at the parallel market, where several small businesses depend, standing at around N570 per dollar, businesses are facing difficult times to stock and sell their goods.
Nigerian businesses have faced various setbacks due to the dollar-naira exchange rate. It has left certain entrepreneurs with uncertainty, lamenting that their businesses are no longer thriving.
Against this background, many people have resorted to the use of local products.Traders who sell wears said the patronage is low as customers.
Chidinma Nwafor, who has a boutique in FESTAC, Lagos, said: “What some people do is to take a screenshot of any clothes that I upload on my social media pages, then take it to their tailors or fashion designers as the case may be, so it can be sewn for between N3,000-N5,000 cheaper. I sell made-in-United States’ clothes and they’re usually of high quality. I do not blame my customers for this new idea. But patronage is very low.
“At the moment, the clothes we sell for N10,000 are almost double this amount. I do not have another source of income. I’ve even thought of trying out other businesses but the story is the same are everywhere. As long as you have to import, be sure that prices will never remain the same.”
Once patronage is affected, it also tells on the profit margin. Some of these traders because of this development do not purchase goods due to the fact that they have not sold tthe ones they bought earlier. Worse still, their gain margin has depleted.
Besides the retailers, these also affect distributors.
Experts said to encourage entrepreneurship among Nigerians, the government should intervene in the forex market.
The Nation
