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SMEs in Nigeria face tough time over consistent fall of Naira
The Foreign Exchange (FOREX) in Nigeria rate has experienced a consistent fall below expectations in the last few months, affecting many Nigerian businesses.
With the FOREX rate at the parallel market standing at around N570 per dollar, businesses are facing difficult times to stock and sell their goods, resulting into Nigerian businesses facing various setbacks and leaving many entrepreneurs with uncertainty by which many are now lamenting that their businesses are no longer thriving as before.
Against this background, many people have resorted to the use of local products as traders who sell wears said that patronage is low since customers are no longer buzzing in like before.
A boutique owner in FESTAC, area of Lagos, while addressing newsmen, 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”.
It should be noted that some traders, as a result of this development, have not purchased new goods because they are yet to sell-out their early orders, worse with depleted profit margin. The development also affects distributors of which experts have called on the government to intervene and bring lasting solutions.