Black Market: Dollar Hits N611 To Naira At Parallel Market

The Nigerian currency (naira) now exchanges at N611 to the dollar at the parallel market, popularly known as the black market.

Truetells Nigeria reports that the naira’s official rate stands at 419.02 at the Investors and Exporters window, after several dips on Friday.

But the Nigerian currency has dropped massively at the parallel market to 611 for the first time in the country’s history.

Source at the black market, a dollar is sold at N611 on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied plans to phase out the circulation of the lower denomination of the naira notes.

Osita Nwanisobi, director, corporate communication, CBN, said this on Saturday in a telephone conversation with TheCable.

Nwanisobi said: “The CBN is not phasing out anything.”

The Delta State Branch Controller of CBN, Godwin Okafor, while urging market men and women to sign into the e-Naira, had called on traders to key into the central bank’s e-Naira policy.

He said, “We are here at the market today to sensitise the market people on the use of e-Naira. It is fully backed by CBN, unlike Bitcoin which has no legal backing.”

Also speaking, Dr Aminu Bizi, a consultant of CBN on e-Naira, said Delta was chosen as the second state to sensitise market women on e-Naira after Lagos.

“We are here to sensitise market men and women, shop to shop on the use of e-Naira. CBN has gone behind ATM, POS, therefore, we are going to meet the Okada/tricycle union on this policy.

“Paper currency will soon be out of circulation because CBN spent money to print money and people abuse the currency in the market, spraying at the occasion, payment of Okada/tricycle and others and CBN is losing” she said.