Nigeria’s official currency market is set to expand, welcoming legitimate players like bureaux de change and fintech firms. This move comes as the country anticipates $10 billion in foreign currency inflows, despite challenges in the forex landscape.
Nigeria is gearing up to widen its official currency market, intending to incorporate legitimate participants, including bureaux de change and financial technology companies. Taiwo Oyedele, a member of President Bola Tinubu’s committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms, announced this development at the Nigerian Economic Summit. Furthermore, the government is contemplating making trading on the foreign currency parallel market illegal.
These decisions arrived on a day when the Nigerian currency experienced a significant drop against the U.S. dollar on the parallel market, reaching 1,215 naira per dollar, as reported by Bloomberg. In contrast, the official market’s exchange rate remained at 1:795.
Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts to stabilize the naira, the currency continues to depreciate. The removal of import restrictions on 43 items, a recent measure, aimed to curb this decline. However, some experts believe that a lack of liquidity might be the underlying issue behind the naira’s persistent devaluation.
Finance Minister Wale Edun has expressed optimism, anticipating $10 billion in foreign currency inflows in the coming weeks, although specific details remain undisclosed.