The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has devalued the Naira to N631 to the dollar from N461.6 it sold at the Importers and Exporters (I&E) window the previous day, Daily Trust gathered.
The devaluation came 48 hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the plans of the federal government to unify the FG and Organised Labour to continue talks over Petrol Subsidy Removal exchange rate to stimulate the economy.
Recall that In his inaugural speech during his inauguration ceremony, President of Nigeria, Tinubu said, “Monetary policy needs a thorough house cleaning.
He added that the Central Bank must work towards a unified exchange rate. This will direct funds away from arbitrage into meaningful investment in the plant, equipment and jobs that power the real economy.”
The naira dropped to N762 a dollar on Friday from 775 the previous day in the unauthorized market in Lagos, said Umar Salisu, a BDC operator who tracks the data in the nation’s commercial capital.
The unit According to Daily Trust has weakened steadily in the parallel market since last week after stabilizing for most of this year.
The market arbitrage (difference between the official and parallel markets) has widened in the past three years from N100 per dollar or about 30 per cent in 2020 to over N400 per dollar (above 100 per cent) sometime last year when the black market rate to N880/$.
Development institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are wary of exchange rate differential in excess of five per cent and warn that such could trigger unhealthy manipulation that could negatively affect other efforts on market stabilisation.
