Naira officially gains N143 @ N1,339.33/$ but falls to N1,520/$ black market

Naira officially gains N143 @ N1,339.33/$ but falls to N1,520/$ black market

The naira was sold at N1,339.33/$ on Monday via the official window, appreciating by N143 or 9.6 per cent from N1,482.81/$ on Friday, May 24.

It however depreciated at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market. It went down by N10 at N1,520/$.

According to the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, during trading hours, N1,501/$ was the highest exchange rate and N1,310/$ was the lowest.

A daily turnover of $180.80 million was recorded on the official window.

For the black market rate, in Lagos, currency traders also known as Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, quoted the naira at N1,520 to the dollar.

The traders put the buying price of the dollar at N1,490 and the selling price at N1,520 respectively — leaving a profit margin of N30.

The figure represents a decline of N10 or 0.66 percent from the N1,510/$ traded on Friday, May 24.

The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), on May 23, said the weakening of the naira was due to the unearned income pursuing the local currency and not demand for the dollar.

President of ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, also attributed the depreciation of the naira to corruption.