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Exchange Rate: The gap between the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, exchange rate and that of the parallel market (also known as black market) has continued to widen, providing incentives for round-tripping and arbitrage as well as official corruption in the Nigerian foreign exchange market space.
Yesterday Naira traded against the US Dollar lower across both official and unofficial markets and also maintained over 65% gap, known as premium on black market rate. The exchange rate at the CBN’s official market known as the Investors and Exporters window of the market was N436/ USD1.0 while at the black market it was N710.
Market operators said the development is creating opportunity for influential people to get the US Dollars from the official market and divert them to the black market to make huge profit quickly.
They identified exchange rate structure, restrictive policies, low sales and revenues, rationing of forex supply and capital flight as some of the key factors for naira’s crash across different markets.
Manufacturers have complained of limited forex supply, which has now worsened.
Naira has in the last five years, lost 95 percent of its value against the dollar due to the above-mentioned factors.
Analysts have said the naira will not appreciate in value against the pound sterling when the British government adopts King Charles 111 as its currency.