At the parallel market, popularly referred to as the black market, the naira slipped further, exchanging at ₦1,555 per dollar compared to ₦1,550 per dollar recorded on Monday. The decline underscores the continued pressure on dollar demand outside the official window, where traders say business and personal travel allowances are driving demand.
Conversely, data from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), indicated a modest appreciation of the naira. The local currency closed at ₦1,534.5 per dollar, a slight improvement from ₦1,534.8 per dollar on Monday. This represents a gain of 30 kobo, signaling relative stability within the official market framework.
With these divergent movements, the gap between the official NFEM rate and the parallel market rate widened to ₦20.5 per dollar, up from ₦15.2 per dollar at the start of the week. Analysts note that the widening margin could encourage more arbitrage activities, particularly as businesses and individuals continue to face challenges accessing forex at official channels.
Currency traders suggest that unless dollar supply improves significantly, pressure may persist in the parallel market, keeping the spread above official rates. However, the CBN’s tight monitoring of the NFEM is expected to maintain relative stability in the official window in the near term.