By Kalu Obasi Benjamin
The Nigerian Naira lost some of its value against the U.S. dollar in the official foreign exchange market yesterday. It moved from a previous rate of N1,353.5 per dollar to N1,359 per dollar. While the change seems small, it marks a slight dip in the currency’s official strength.
Over in the “parallel market” ( black market), the exchange rate stayed the same. It held steady at N1,360 per dollar, showing no movement compared to the previous day. This means while the official rate changed, the street rate remained calm.
Data provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed this shift. Because the official rate rose by N5.5, it became more expensive to buy a dollar through official banking channels than it was on Monday.
One interesting result of this change is that the “gap” between the official and unofficial markets has almost disappeared. On Monday, there was a N6.5 difference between the two markets, but now that gap has shrunk to just N1.
When these two rates are almost the same, it usually suggests that the currency market is becoming more unified. This makes it harder for people to profit from the price difference between the bank rate and the street rate.
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