Naira Slumps In Black Market, Dollar, Euro, Pound Rates Rise

The rates for the dollar, euro and pound sterling were increased in the Bureau De Change window of the black market on Tuesday.

It was gathered that the naira exchanged for the dollar at N753.4/$1, with the rate up by 1.2% or N9.5 kobo when compared to N743.9/$1 reported on Monday. 

This was disclosed by a foreign exchange aggregator, Naira Rates, which also revealed that the rate between the naira and the pound sterling rose by N14.1 kobo or 1.5%.

During trading, the pound was sold at an average of N951.3/£1 by the Bureau De Change operator, up from N937.2/£1 the previous day. 

The naira also depreciated by 1.4% in the intraday session, as the average rate of the euro was N819.6/€1, indicating the cost of buying one euro increased by N11.4 kobo when compared to the N808.2/€1 rate the day before. 

In the official market, the naira to dollar exchange rate was put at N464.67 kobo. This was the rate the United States currency closed on Monday as well. 

Prime Business Africa notes that the dollar rate has been stable since Thursday, while in the black market, it has been fluctuating.

After the day’s trading session, it was learnt from data obtained from FMDQ Exchange that traders recorded $186.02 million transactions in foreign exchange.

On Monday, foreign exchange traders had transacted $77.48 million forex, indicating an increase of $108.54 million or 140.08%. 

Meanwhile, the difference in the official window and black market rates is expected to pose a challenge to oil marketers interested in importing fuel into Nigeria. 

Oil marketers said they sourced their forex from the black market while the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited receives from the CBN. 

As a result, if the oil marketers are to import fuel into Nigeria, the ex-deport price will be between N505/litre and N515/litre, but that of the NNPC will be N467.39/litre. 

This will make the cost of fuel sold by oil marketers significantly higher compared to that of the NNPC, so any oil marketer that chooses to import will not survive.