Cost of things to rise, as BDC operators sell dollars at premium price
November 8,2022
Individuals and traders are still buying dollars at a premium rate in the black market, and this will continue to fuel inflation for goods that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not providing foreign currencies for.
The Bureau De Change operators are selling the United States currency between N870/$1 in Ikotun and N900/$1 in Isolo areas of Lagos State, Ripples Nigeria gathered on Tuesday
This publication learnt that the highest rate of the dollar has remained at N900 this week. As of Monday, the exchange rate between the USD and naira was between N820 to N900 across various areas in Lagos.
With the black market exchange rate high at about N900, the importers of the 41 items on the forex banned list of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which includes rice, private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce (sardines), amongst others will have to increase the price of their products for depending on the black market
Also, considering the scarcity of dollars in the official market, which has pushed traders to the black market to quickly obtain forex, importers of products like television brands, cars and more items not produced in Nigeria will also raise the price of their goods, in a bid to recover the cost of obtaining the dollars in the parallel market
As a result, the cost of living in Nigeria will continue to rise, and reduce consumer spendings, which in turn, will negatively affect the revenue of the traders and other companies involved in importation.
Meanwhile, the dollar traded flat on the official market on Monday, closing at N445.50/$1, the same value both currencies traded for last Friday. It was learnt that traders transacted forex worth $206.25 million on Monday, which is more than the $94.04 million transacted the previous session
