Traders Pay More For Forex As Dollar Rate Rises In Official, Black Markets

The Dollar was sold at N462.73 kobo on the official foreign exchange market and N745/$1 in the black market on Thursday, 11 May.

Traders saw the Naira they exchanged for the Dollar depreciate by 0.06 per cent in value, as the price offered to buy the United States currency rose by N0.29 kobo. 

Prime Business Africa gathered that investors and exporters had obtained foreign exchange at the cost of N463.02 on Wednesday, 10 May. 

Data obtained from the FMDQ Exchange showed that traders paid more to lay their hands on the Dollar which has been scarce in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.

Moreover, during trading, the foreign exchange rate skyrocketed to the highest level, N467/$1, on Thursday, with traders also buying the USD at the lowest price of the day, N460/$1, before the Dollar rate closed for the day at N462.73 kobo. 

Similarly, the traders who chose to buy American Dollars in the black market also had to part with more Naira, as the value of the Nigerian currency fell by -0.26 per cent on Thursday. 

In the Bureau De Change window of the black market, it was learnt that the average price of the Dollar was N745/$1, up from N743/$1 the United States currency was sold the day before. 

Note that while the total foreign exchange transacted in the black market is unknown, FMDQ Exchange reported $164.12 million in foreign exchange was transacted in the official market. 

Investors and exporters recorded $14.56 million or 8.14 per cent decrease in supply, as the official market had posted that traders transacted $178.68 million worth of foreign exchange at the end of trading hours on Wednesday.