See latest naira to dollar exchange rate at black market

• Bureau de Change (BDC) traders have adjusted their exchange rates for Nigerians looking to buy dollars
• The latest exchange rate reflects the current state of the market, especially in the unofficial forex markets
• The CBN has quickly reacted and has conducted another forex sale round to licensed BDC operators to address customer demand

Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of business journalism experience with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.

Black market traders are quoting dollars above N1,600 to Nigerians in search of quick access to dollars for travel or other needs.

Traders who spoke to Legit.ng gave the new buying exchange rate for a dollar at N1,610 as of 2.15 pm on July 18, 2024.

CBN fights back to crash dollar Photo credit: Bloomberg/contributor
Source: Getty Images

While the traders buy from customers at rates as high as N1,590, leaving a margin of N20.

The exchange rate is even worse on fintech platforms such as Chipper Cash.

A check by Legit.ng showed that a customer looking to convert naira to dollars for dollar card funding or savings on the Chipper cash platform will pay N1,776/$.

While for dollar to naira, the exchange rate is N1,548.

A currency trader Abudulahi, explained to Legit.ng that the rate of the dollar is due to high demand and low supply.

He said:

CBN moves to help the naira

Meanwhile, the CBN has taken a decisive step to find a solution to the current forex crisis and stabilize the foreign exchange rates.

The latest move is the sale of $20,000 each to BDCs at N1,450/$1 to meet the demand for invisible transactions.

There are currently 1,583 approved BDC operators in the country, and the CBN hopes they will take advantage of the opportunity.

To ensure there is no round-tripping, the CBN also fixed an exchange rate limit for the BDCs when selling to Nigerians seeking dollars.

New platforms identified as threats to naira

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Nigerians identified the emergence of two cryptocurrency platforms as the reason for the recent fall of the naira.

The earlier decline of the naira was attributed to alleged market manipulation by Binance.

Nigerians have blamed the latest depreciation on new crypto exchange platforms, namely BYBIT and BITGET.

Source: Legit.ng