NAIRA HITS N186 TO $1 IN ABUJA BLACK MARKET

The exchange rate for the dollar in Abuja “black market’’ on Wednesday stood at between N182 and N186, an investigation by a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent found.

This is against the new official exchange rate N168 announced on Tuesday by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

The NAN correspondent, who checked near the Sheraton Hotel, Zone 4, Abuja, the rendezvous for most black market operators, found that the closest naira exchange to the official exchange rate was N182.

Some of the operators told NAN that the difference between their rate and the official rate was to accommodate the “extra charges’’ they pay to “dealers’’ they get the hard currency from.

A black market operator, Alhaji Usman Gongola, told NAN that he sold one dollar at N186 and bought one dollar for N183.

Another operator, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi, said he sold at N184 and bought one dollar for N182.

Also speaking, Alhaji Mohammed Bichi, told NAN that he sold one dollar at N182 and bought one dollar for N181. The CBN on Tuesday announced a new exchange rate of N168 to one U.S. dollar as against the old rate of N155 to one dollar.

The CBN governor told newsmen at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday that the measure was to strengthen the economy, following continued slid of oil price in the international market.

Part of the measures, as announced by Emefiele, was an increase in lending rate from 12 percent to 13 percent.