Dollar sells at N437 at retail Bureaux as scarcity bites hard -

The foreign exchange pressure occasioned by scarcity of dollars worsened on Thursday as one dollar was being sold at N437 at some Bureau De Change (BDC) outlets in Lagos.

This represents a N12 depreciation of the Nigerian currency compared to N425 traded on Wednesday at the black market.

On March 26, 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) suspended foreign exchange sales to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators until further notice due to the COVID-19 lockdown as requested by the operators. The suspension notwithstanding, some BDCs are still active in the market.

The price of dollar remained unchanged at N425 at the black market on Thursday. Operators attributed the high cost of dollar leading to weakness in Naira to scarcity of the greenback.

At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, the foreign exchange market opened with an indicative rate of N385.61k on Thursday, data from FMDQ revealed.

This represents a depreciation of 0.14 percent or N0.54 kobo compared to N385.07k opened on the previous day.

The market closed on a positive note on Wednesday with Naira gaining N2.00k against the dollar at the I&E forex window.

The foreign exchange daily turnover rose by 154.22 percent to $53.21 million on Wednesday from $20.93 million as at Monday.

The CBN on March 2020 adjusted the exchange rate from N360 to N380/US$ at the I&E window, to stem the pressure in the foreign exchange market.

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Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.