Official Market Dollar Sold At N762/$1, Euro, Pound Fluctuate In Black Market

In the investors’ and exporters’ window of the official market, the United States Dollar (USD) was sold at N762.63/$1 on Thursday, 6 July.

The FMDQ Exchange, the official foreign exchange rate aggregator, reported that the rate surpassed the N742.31/$1 rate dollar that was offered on Wednesday, 5 July.

This indicates the authorised dealers increased their asking price by N20.32 kobo, with the value of the naira depreciating by 2.73 per cent. 

Although in the black market, the Naira Rates, a parallel market aggregator, said the American greenback was stable at N772/$1. 

This was the average rate the dollar was sold in the Bureau De Change window of the black market during trading the previous day.

The European currency, the euro, shed some value in the parallel market to the naira, as both currencies were exchanged at an average rate of N851.9/€1.

It was slightly lower than the N854.1/€1 rate both the European currency and Nigerian banknote traded at on Wednesday according to the aggregator.

Foreign traders saw an increase in the cost of the British pound, which was sold at a higher rate of N997.10/£1, compared to the preceding day’s N996.8/£1 rate.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Olu Adeosun, has stated that the pains caused by the unification of the dollar won’t last.

“I believe that in the long-term, the prospects are there; the pain we are going through now over fuel subsidy removal, FX unification, will not last,” Adeosun told Channels TV.

He made the comment amid the increase in fuel prices, which was caused by the unification of the multiple foreign exchange rates by President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that the gap between the official and black market was over N200 before June 14, when the unification was implemented, but it has reduced to N9.37 kobo.

The reduction in the gap led to the oil marketers buying and selling the fuel according to the market reality of the dollar rate. Prior to the unification, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited sold the fuel to the oil marketers at an official rate below N500/$1, but following the unification, the rate the fuel is sold is pegged to over N700/$1.