Nigerian Business Owners Groan As Naira Crashes Further, Now ₦472/$

The foreign exchange crisis in Nigeria that has stifled profitability for businesses, especially small scale enterprises, has worsened as the naira plunged further on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

As of today, Wednesday, July 29, $1 exchanges for ₦475 in the parallel market, from the ₦440 it did in June.

Operators and business owners continue to groan as they call for the immediate unification of the multiple exchange rates in the country.

The Senior Partner, Regulatory and Technology, Stransact Partners, Eben Joels, expressed worries over the gap between the various exchange rates operating in the country, which he said created arbitrage opportunities for highly connected individuals.

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He said, “Some people are cleaning out of this situation. The spread between the black market and the official market is back to about N100 on a dollar.

“It is not that rate that is the issue right now. We need to move to a single unified exchange rate. For all you know, the naira may be underpriced artificially because of the quest to defend the naira.

“Using purchasing power parity, I believe the naira is underpriced and the so-called need to defend the naira by operating several tiers of official exchange rate is part of the systematic theft of national resources going on as we speak.”

According to the 2020 Business Expectation Survey Report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in May, the naira is expected to depreciate further in the next few months until November.

The report said the naira will appreciate from September 2020.