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May 14 2025
Black Market Dollar to Naira Rate Stays High in Nigeria
Another day, another jump at the parallel market. If you tried to swap dollars for naira in Nigeria on March 26, 2025, you probably felt the sting. The black market rate for the US dollar shot up again—buyers had to fork out between N1,565 to N1,570 for each buck, while sellers hiked prices as high as N1,580. Meanwhile, the official Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rate sat stubbornly lower at N1,531.2. That’s a nasty gap of almost N40 per dollar, but absolutely nothing new for ordinary Nigerians scrambling to pay for imports, school fees, or just get by in daily life.
If you checked rates in Lagos, the story was the same. The city’s parallel market—often the early indicator for the rest of the country—opened at N1,570 to the dollar. Cash was king. Street traders and Bureau De Change operators kept their eyes glued to their phones, updating rates by the minute. Cash transactions always grabbed higher rates, while bank transfers or less liquid deals left some room for bargaining. And it wasn’t just the greenback making waves.
Foreign Currencies See Surges Beyond Official Rates
The black market didn’t just chase dollars. The British pound shot up too, going for N2,010 to buy and up to N2,030 if you needed to sell fast. Euros weren’t much better—buying rates moved around N1,680 and selling climbed to N1,700. For anyone dealing with China, the yuan traded at N215 for buyers and N220 for sellers, all well above CBN’s official rates of N211.01 and N211.15.
Those official rates felt like fiction to most traders. According to the CBN, the British pound’s buying price stuck at N1,984.09, and the euro at N1,656.73. Even the Saudi Riyal stood officially at N407.77, far from what anybody got on the street.
So, what’s fueling all this? There’s always a mix—Nigeria’s economic headwinds, the pressure on foreign reserves, and a long-running mismatch between what people need and what the official market can deliver. Speculators love the chaos, snapping up currencies when demand spikes and flipping them later for tidy profits. Sometimes, a new government policy or even rumors can send traders into a frenzy, adjusting prices before the sun comes up.
The Central Bank keeps urging everyone to use the official Investors and Exporters (I&E) window through banks. But let’s be honest—when demand keeps smashing into a wall of tight supply, people look for options. The black market isn’t just about profit; it’s sometimes the only way people or businesses can legally settle critical bills, imports, or overseas expenses on time.
All through March 26, the parallel market in Nigeria buzzed with unpredictable activity. Rates changed practically from one street to the next, especially in key urban centers like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt. Cash-rich traders made quick decisions, hoping to win on the spread while buyers chased better deals, often traveling from one spot to another for a few extra naira per dollar or pound. That’s daily life in Nigeria’s unofficial currency scene—fast, risky, and always expensive for ordinary people and small businesses.
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