FOREX: Official dollar rate surpasses black market first time in 8 years

The dollar rate in the official market has surpassed that of the black market for the first time in the last eight years, a report obtained from the FMDQ Exchange has shown.

It was gathered that foreign exchange buyers were selling the dollars at N770.38/$1 at the close of trading in the official market on Monday.

Foreign exchange sellers increased the cost of the dollars in the official market by N107.34, from N663.04/$1 the United States currency closed on Friday.

This indicates the naira depreciated in value by 16.18%, pushing the dollar rate in the official market above the average rate in the black market.

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It was learnt that the highest rate the dollar was sold in the last 24 hours is N799/$1, with N461/$1 being the lowest USD rate of the day.

Amid the rise in the cost of the dollar, the value of foreign exchange transactions recorded in the official market dropped by 299.6%.

The foreign exchange transaction fell by $233.80 million in monetary terms from $311.83 million traded on Friday, to $78.03 million.

In a parallel market data released by a black market aggregator, Naira Rates, the dollar was offered at an average rate of N757.4/$1, the same rate it traded on Friday.

The pound was traded among black market traders at an average rate of N985.9/£1 during the preview day’s session, up by N2.1 kobo or 0.21% from N983.8/£1.

Also, the euro was offered to buyers of the European currency at N841.2/€1, slightly down from the previous N841.8//€1 rate.