Chai! Naira Dips To N490/$ As CBN Seeks End To Black Market

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is seeking to
ensure there is no black market as the naira sinks
to 490 to a single dollar.

On Wednesday, the naira was trading at 314 at the
official market, with parallel market recording 490/
$1.

The British pound stood at 605, while the European
Union currency, euro went for 510, a far cry of its
388, 327 range at the official side of the market
respectively.

Vice President YemiOsinbajo, and Kemi Adeosun,
minister of finance, had previously said the CBN
was working on a foreign exchange system that
eliminates arbitrage in the forex market.

Isaac Okorafor, the spokesperson for the bank, was
quoted by Reuters to have said the bank
was “ensuring that the forex market operates as
effectively as we would envisage”.

He also said the aim was to “ensure there is no
black market” but did not give details of how this
would be achieved.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, had said
consistency that the parallel market could not be
used to evaluate the true value of the local currency.

“It is unfair to use the shallow market as a basis for
determining the value of our currency. No one uses
the Travelex rate at Heathrow to determine the
exchange rate for the pound in the United
Kingdom,” Emefiele had said.

“So it is unfair to use that to determine the value of
our currency. Those who are dealing in the market
are doing so illegally. We should not be
encouraging the tendencies of those people who are
involved in capital flight, or those who want to
conduct foreign exchange business without
providing necessary documentation.”

http://leadership.ng/news/564735/naira-dips-to-
n490-as-cbn-seeks-end-to-black-market