Nigerians are now trembling as the naira gallops to an all-time low of N925 to $1 in the black market otherwise known as the parallel market.
ENigeria Newspaper on Wednesday reported that Alhaji Aminu Gwadebe Chairman of the Bureau De Change Operators BDC Operators in Nigeria during a TV interview the continued indulgence of cryptocurrency platforms like Binance in Nigeria’s financial space continues to widen the gap between the naira and dollar.
Consequently, Gwadebe went ahead to call on the Federal Government to immediately place a ban on Binance as its growing influence impedes on the dollar to naira exchange rate in Nigeria’s forex market.
With a closing exchange rate of as low as N925/$1 on the parallel market on Wednesday evening Nigerians continue to wallow in mucky waters of fear of uncertainties ahead of the “Ember months” which will commence next month.
“Uncertainties lie ahead of us as we approach the ember months. With the rising exchange rate, one wonders if indeed the poor can really breath this time. Since cost of commodities in this country is largely dependent on the price of the dollar to naira exchange, we should expect cost of living to skyrocket astronomically and this calls for concern”, Adeoye, a trader in Lagos told ENigeria Newspaper correspondent on Thursday.
With a rise in demand for the dollar as the main reason cited, dollar black market operators in Lagos and Abuja who spoke to ENigeria Newspaper quoted exchange rates as high as N925/$1, adding that there are no assurances it won’t hit N1000 before the end of the week.
“The naira has now weakened by over 4.39% in the first 9 days of August on the parallel market. The exchange rate weakened by 11.5% in the whole of July 2023”, an operator told our correspondent.
Disparity widens: The disparity between the official and parallel market rates continues to widen after the I&E window closed at N757.51/$1 on Tuesday, August 8th.
The disparity is now N153/$1 one of the widest since the unification of the naira on June 14th, 2023.
In contrast, the exchange rate unification was expected to bridge the gap between the official and black-market rates.
Analyst point to pent-up demand as the major reason why most forex buyers continue to patronize the black market.
They suggest most importers still struggle to fill their needs on the official market especially with I&E window turnover averaging $80 million daily.
