The foreign exchange crisis in Nigeria escalated further on Thursday as the exchange rate at the parallel market reached over N1,000 for a single US dollar.
A survey conducted at popular black markets in Lagos by Daily Trust has revealed that in the early hours of Thursday, the exchange rate for the US dollar ranged between N1,000 and N1,050, before settling at N990 by evening.
This alarming rate signifies a substantial difference from the Investors & Exporters FX window, where the naira was sold at N738.
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However, on P2P platforms like Binance, Dollar sold between N960 to N988 as at yesterday.
Reason for the increased Dollar rate – BDC Operators
But many have attributed the exponential increment in dollar rate to the scarcity of the currency.
Since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all foreign exchange market segments in June, the gap between the official and parallel markets has been consistently widening.
One of the operators at Allen Roundabout, Ismail Muhammed, noted, “There is scarcity at the market. We are now buying dollars for N990, but earlier in the day, it was sold for N1,000. Some people exchanged it for N1,050.”
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Another operator, Alhaji Abdullahi Olugbede, attributed the surge in the exchange rate to the scarcity, stating that most licensed Bureau De Change Operators are grappling with a shortage of dollars.
“When there is scarcity, the dollar will go up against the naira, but we are not happy. We should pray that it will come down because this is not good,” Olugbede commented.