Dollar to naira today – Dollar to Naira exchange rate stood at N670 on Monday at the parallel market popularly known as the black market as scarcity remained an issue amid rising demand.

The Naira exchange rate to U.S. Dollar improved from N700 recorded last week to N670 today, Monday 15th August 2022. Dollar to Naira today rate is over 50 percent higher than the official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Dollar to Naira Today Black Market

The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo has said arresting Bureau De Change Operators (BDcs) suspected to be hoarding U.S. dollars will only worsen the nation’s economic position.

Lemo’s comment was after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reportedly raided stands of BDCs in the Wuse Zone 4 area of Abuja last week.

Speaking to the press in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday, Tunde Lemo explained that it was not the activity of the BDCs that caused forex scarcity but insecurity and non-remittance of forex by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation recently registered as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

In his words: “This (the arrest) will lead us to nowhere and worsen the dire situation. The current scarcity is caused by the security situation in the country as well as the non-remittance of Forex by NNPC, a major supplier”.

“The market is sensitive to too many rules. CBN should move more to the market- determined exchange rate policy with less capital control. This is the only way to attract liquidity from independent sources. Involving EFFC, at this stage will compound the problems”.

On August 5, it was reported that Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman, EFCC, met with the representatives of Bureau de Change Operators in Abuja to discuss how to curb forex hoarding and activities that could impede the progress of Nigeria’s economy.

According to Bawa, BDCs activities were responsible for the over N700 per US$1 exchange rate at the parallel market popularly known as the black market.

The meeting was EFFC’s effort at addressing the alarming crash in the value of the Nigerian Naira against its global counterparts on the black market and also to come up with a collaborative strategy between the commission and BDCs, especially at the black market/parallel market.

Furthermore, the commission hoped to have similar meetings at other major Bureau de Change Operator cities like Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Calabar.

Persistent dollar scarcity amid economic uncertainties ahead of the 2023 general elections continues to drag on Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves declined by $381 million in the last one month, according to the data available on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official website.

On the 6th of July, the reserves stood at $39.336 billion but dropped to $38.954 billion on August 8th, 2022, representing a decline of $381 million.

As a mono-product economy, Nigeria depends on crude oil for over 90% of its foreign revenue. However, poor infrastructure and regional crisis in the oil-rich Niger Delta have plunged the nation’s crude oil production from about 2.1 million barrels per day (mbpd) it averaged a few years back to 1.08 mbpd in July, according to the latest OPEC report released on July.

The drop in crude oil production has impeded the nation’s foreign revenue generation and forced the federal government to increase borrowing in order to plug the revenue deficit.

This, experts blamed for the nation’s rising debt servicing cost. In a recent report by the federal government, Nigeria was estimated to spend N10.43 trillion on debt servicing by 2025.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in about four years Nigeria will be spending 100% of her revenue on debt servicing.

“The biggest critical aspect for Nigeria is that we have done a macro-fiscal stress test, and what you observe is the interest payments as a share of revenue, and as you see us in terms of the baseline from the federal government of Nigeria, the revenue of almost 100 per cent is projected by 2026 to be taken by debt service,” stated Ari Aisen, a IMF Representative in Nigeria.

While Federal Government has insisted that Nigeria does not have a debt problem but a revenue problem. Patience Oniha, the Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), agreed that Nigeria’s rising debt will hinder the country from investing in infrastructure and the real sector of the economy.

The DMO boss said “High debt levels lead to heavy debt service which reduces resources available for investment in infrastructure and key sectors of the economy.”