The naira slid to N610 to a dollar over the weekend at the parallel market in Lagos and Abuja, thus widening the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates to N191.
The official exchange rate of the currency is N419.02 to the dollar at the close of business on Friday.
According to bureau de change sources, the recent rise in the exchange rate of dollar at the black market is due to heightened political activities as the political parties will hold their primary elections this week. It is believed that many politicians seeking election use dollars to ‘settle’ delegates to vote for them.
Importers, who source their forex from the parallel market, are complaining about the high exchange rate, stating that it would affect the volume of importation into the country.
President of the Nigerian Importers Integrity Association (NIIA), Godwin Onyekazi, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has refused to sell dollars to importers through the official exchange window.
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