Nigeria’s naira slumps to new low on black market

ABUJA: Nigeria’s naira fell to a new record low on the black market on Tuesday, traders said, driven by unmet foreign-currency demand on the official market and speculation.

The naira was quoted at 1,000 to the US dollar on abokiFX, a firm that publishes online black market exchange rates, compared with 980 last week.

The central bank has not intervened by selling dollars on the official market for three weeks, one trader said, helping to accelerate the currency’s slide on the parallel market as excess foreign-currency demand has been funnelled there.

One of the key challenges for new central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso will be to boost dollar liquidity to help stabilise the currency.