Lagos, June 23, 2025 – The Nigerian naira experienced mild depreciation in the parallel (black) market on Monday, trading between ₦1,585 and ₦1,605 per U.S. dollar, as demand for the greenback continues to outpace supply despite recent interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Currency dealers across key markets in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt quoted the dollar at ₦1,595 for cash transactions, while buyers were able to sell as high as ₦1,585, depending on volume and location. In some urban centres, quotes reached as high as ₦1,605 per dollar, marking one of the steepest margins between the official and parallel rates in recent weeks.
This comes at a time when the official exchange rate remains relatively stable, closing at ₦1,547/$1 on the FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window last Friday. The gap between the official and black market rates has widened to nearly ₦50 per dollar, reigniting concerns over currency speculation and dollar hoarding.
Market watchers attribute the widening spread to persistent scarcity of foreign currency in the official market, coupled with sustained demand from importers, students paying foreign tuition, medical tourists, and small businesses who are unable to access FX through official channels.
According to local forex traders, the sharp volatility in the parallel market is also being driven by uncertainty over the direction of monetary policy and the pace of reforms. While the CBN has introduced several measures to attract foreign inflows, including higher OMO rates and market liberalisation efforts, the impact on liquidity remains uneven across forex segments.
“The demand pressure is still high. People are buying dollars to pay school fees and medical bills abroad, but they can’t get it from the banks, so they come to us,” a currency dealer at Lagos’ Allen Avenue told reporters.
Meanwhile, data from online forex tracking platforms like AbokiFX and AbokiPure confirm the day’s range, with most black market rates hovering around ₦1,595–₦1,600/$1. On digital P2P trading platforms, especially those used by cryptocurrency users and online merchants, dollar rates were also seen trading above ₦1,600 per dollar, reflecting the ongoing squeeze.
Analysts believe the current rate trajectory is unlikely to reverse significantly unless the CBN is able to inject substantial forex liquidity or attract sustained foreign portfolio inflows. Crude oil prices, which remain the primary source of FX earnings for Nigeria, have fluctuated around $77 per barrel, providing limited upside for reserve buffers.
Until broader confidence is restored and supply-demand imbalances corrected, the naira is expected to remain under pressure in the informal forex market.
As of today, June 23, 2025, the parallel market remains the primary avenue for many Nigerians seeking foreign exchange, albeit at a cost nearly 3% higher than the official market.
