Dollar Sells At N780, Flat At Black Market

The exchange rate between the dollar and the naira at the black market was flat on Monday, but the case was different in the official market, where the Nigerian currency appreciated.

Bureau De Change operators offered the United States currency at N780/$1. It was the same dollar rate buyers purchased the USD during Friday’s session in the parallel market. 

The exchange rate has remained at a premium level, and Prime Business Africa (PBA) had previously reported that the rate might not come down anytime soon to the level it was before President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime due to some obvious  factors. 

PBA said the factors are within and outside the control of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). They include Nigeria’s foreign debt, low oil production, and the ban on forex sales to Bureau De Change operators, amongst others. 

The exclusive report noted that some central bank policies – the ban on Bureau De Change operators, Naira for Dollar programme, clampdown on what the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, described as speculators, and arrest of BDC operators – have had little or no impact on exchange rate moderation. 

In the official market, the naira appreciated by 0.07 per cent, as one dollar exchanged for N445.38 to close Monday, according to data from the FMDQ. 

Both currencies had exchanged for as high as N447, and also traded as low as N440 during Monday’s trading session in the official market, the data disclosed. 

The closing rate of N445.38/$1 is below the N445.67 the American greenback sold for on Friday. The naira appreciated by 0.07 per cent on the back of traders transacting forex worth $83.57 million at the official Investors and Exporters window.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, had stated that the dollar could crash to N200, “It is my belief (as a student of Economics) that the redesigning of the Naira will cause the value of the dollar currently at N890 to crash to N200.”