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Nigerian naira may be heading towards doom as Bureau De Change operators, most in Lagos state have gone underground.
The Central Bank capped prices that non-bank dealers can charge their customers for foreign exchange, effectively pegging the black-market rate, while endorsing the Department of State Security service (DSS ) clampdown on those who failed to comply with the cap prices.
Officials of the SSS raided the parallel markets in Lagos, Abuja and Onitsha few weeks over alleged arbitrary sale of forex.
The raid, which worsened dollar scarcity at its wake, forced the naira to settle at N465 to a dollar.
The Bureau de change operators have become the latest target of Federal government desperate move to bolster the naira and crush a black market for foreign currency that’s boomed since the crash in oil prices, strangled the inflow of dollars and swing the economy into recession
Omotola Abimbola, an analyst at Afrinvest told Bloomberg that “The black market will go further underground”, “the fact they went as low as getting security forces on the streets shows a new level of desperation.”
“That’s creating a parallel market within the black market”, he said.
The currency weakened to N480 to a dollar at the black market spot on Tuesday afternoon, N585 to a Pound and N500 exchange for the Euro.
It remained flat at N305 per dollar at the official market spot.
The Central Bank capped prices that non-bank dealers can charge their customers for foreign exchange, effectively pegging the black-market rate, while endorsing the Department of State Security service (DSS ) clampdown on those who failed to comply with the cap prices.
Officials of the SSS raided the parallel markets in Lagos, Abuja and Onitsha few weeks over alleged arbitrary sale of forex.
The raid, which worsened dollar scarcity at its wake, forced the naira to settle at N465 to a dollar.
The Bureau de change operators have become the latest target of Federal government desperate move to bolster the naira and crush a black market for foreign currency that’s boomed since the crash in oil prices, strangled the inflow of dollars and swing the economy into recession
Omotola Abimbola, an analyst at Afrinvest told Bloomberg that “The black market will go further underground”, “the fact they went as low as getting security forces on the streets shows a new level of desperation.”
“That’s creating a parallel market within the black market”, he said.
The currency weakened to N480 to a dollar at the black market spot on Tuesday afternoon, N585 to a Pound and N500 exchange for the Euro.
It remained flat at N305 per dollar at the official market spot.