Foreign exchange (FX) speculators are now counting losses as the dollar has fallen by 8.39 percent on the parallel market, following some government-announced policies.
From the lowest of N1,310 per dollar, naira has strengthened to N1,200/$1 on the black market.
Read also: Naira now exchanges with dollar at N1,235
Nigeria’s government plans to digitalise FX transactions and discourage speculative demands and hoarding of FX in cash.
Read also: Naira weakens as dollar liquidity decline
“I bought dollars at N1,285 and I am now selling at N1,200. Do you know how much I am losing? Everything is government. If the dollar is going up, it is the government, if it is coming down, it is the government, ” a black market operator at the Lagos airport told BusinessDay on Friday.
…Update later
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.
