The central bank of Nigeria has ordered commercial banks and dealers in the forex market the green light to sell forex freely which is at a market-determined rate.
This follows President Bola Tinubu’s promise to unify the multiple exchange rate in the market.
Following the directive, commercial banks can now sell forex at market-determined rates, suggesting Nigeria is now operating a freely floating exchange rate.
News Central confirmed this from multiple sources at the apex bank and from traders with knowledge of the matter.
This is coming after many years of resisting pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to float the Naira.
Forex traders- commercial banks and forex dealers- were on Wednesday allowed to trade the Naira freely without a cap on the rate.
A forex dealer confirmed there were no restrictions at the market on Wednesday morning. Further investigations revealed that Forex traders at the Investors and Export (I&E) window were only allowed to buy and sell Forex at N1 difference.
The dealer stated that as of 12 noon on Wednesday, the Naira was already exchanging at N750 to the dollar.
While awaiting official confirmation by the central bank later today, more data is expected from the FMDQ.
Meanwhile, in the black market, the exchange rate traded for as high as N773/$1 for “inflows” which represent dollars or other currencies sold over the wires.
Details shortly….