Nigerian naira hits record black market low of 1,100 per dollar

[Fiatless]

It's a dire situation for the currency and its holders.

It has been calling for the last decade now, from as low as N150 to $1 to N450 and then N750 climbing up to N1000, but the rate of collapse has never been this rapid. It usually bounces around with periods of increase and decrease in value, but now it's a one-way traffic.

A lot has to be done on the economy to revive that and create some demand for the currency.

When the former central bank governor came up with the redesigning of the Naira notes before the general elections, it affected the flow of the old and even new currency, and the Naira became very scarce. Politicians needed money to buy votes and the naira was not available. With their connection in the central bank, these politicians began to have access to the dollars. USD that would have been used to engage in meaningful business transactions was distributed among criminal politicians. After the elections the dollars became scarce and the central bank couldn't handle the demand for the currency from businesses and individuals. This led to the the rise in price of the dollar in the black market making the value of the naira keep experiencing an uncontrollable fall.

I cannot imagine how the local currency could be reduced from 1,100 to 1,250 in one day. What would the lives of middle-class individuals be like, especially since salaries and jobs do not directly interact with the continuous decline in the local currency, and it may take a year or two before they are adjusted. Frankly, I do not have detailed information about Nigeria, but there must be an economic failure for the exchange rate to move from 150 to 1250. It is good that there is activity in the LB here.

In Nigeria minimum wage is reviewed after five to seven years. Workers will have to lobby the government and engage in several industrial actions such as protests and strikes before they will get the needed attention from the government. The average Nigerian worker is suffering and smiling this is why many professionals are migrating to other countries to seek greener pastures. And many people are also joining politics so that the can be able to steal their quota of the national treasury.

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[knowngunman]

Just for a record that it is now 1250/$ as the time of writing this post and I’m not shocked because I was already expecting all of this after the election and I’m not trying to politicize any of this but let the truth be told that, the government aren’t doing the right thing and aren’t also taking the right decisions and it is at the Cavour of those who earn in dollar but I still wonder the date of the common trade as well as those who don’t earn in dollar.

The government knows the right thing to do and I always feel ashamed knowing that I’m from a country that is supposed to be the faint of Africa but already turning to a mocking stock and I pray God speedily intervenes.

I see nothing to be ashamed of here seriously. I'm not trying to defend here but there are countries that their currency is more worse than naira when convert to dollar. The depreciation of naira is not caused by bad governance but as a result of some policies put in place which are actually a good way to go. Government has a lot of work to do in order to redress this as well as the citizens too. On the path of government, it has ordered the CBN to stop subsidizing the dollar for citizens which cost them huge amount of money. This has a negative effects which we are facing already but it is still the best thing to do. The next thing to do now is to diversify our dependent on oil to other sectors. The less we have to do with dollar, the stronger our naira becomes because the strength of dollar is as result of global economic conditions and the policies of other countries. As a citizen, the more we patronize our local made product, the stronger the Naira becomes. Both the government and citizens have role to play to make the Naira bounce back.

[Y3shot]

It's a dire situation for the currency and its holders.

It has been calling for the last decade now, from as low as N150 to $1 to N450 and then N750 climbing up to N1000, but the rate of collapse has never been this rapid. It usually bounces around with periods of increase and decrease in value, but now it's a one-way traffic.

A lot has to be done on the economy to revive that and create some demand for the currency.

Can it be possible for it to ever come down to ₦150?
 
If No, then people in that country will be encourage to buy more dollars for holding so that they will take the advantages of it in the future even though it will affect their economy because things has started to rise and if naira continue to rise against dollar then that's how things will continue too.

I don't think it can be possible for it to come as low as N150, it is possible for it to slightly come down but not very low. This can only happen if the country can change from consumption to production country, I think this is a country that depends on importation too much and it is really affecting the economy too much. Nigeria is a wealthy country,  an oil and gas producing country,  one of the thing that is also affecting the economy too is mismanagement of fund. The money they have can't be use to revive the economy, but this is money that is being stole by government.  The only way the currency can become better is if the country can serious go into production into major commodities that is very vital to the citizens and a stop of stolen funds that belongs to the nation.

[KiaKia]

I am trying to exchange some money today and I realize that naira to dollar keeps increasing, today its 1230 naira to $1, it looks like this will keep increasing, no wonder many people are leaving the country, I think it's worth it, the only way this can be normal is if my salary is been paid in dollars.

The last man that indeed tried to change the country for the better in a short period of time was Muritala Mohamed, I believe that it's never going to happen again.

This man who as assassinated by people close to him, and his story makes me believe that if anyone is going to really fix Nigeria, that person is going to have a lot of enemies, because there is no way you want cut some peoples source of illegal money off, and many won't like it.

Truth be told, criminals are the ones leading this country in disguise as noble men, they are in that position for themselves and their families, it's so sad.

[Gozie51]

Truth be told, criminals are the ones leading this country in disguise as noble men, they are in that position for themselves and their families, it's so sad.

For whatever reason that is happening nobody knows. Nigeria is blessed in natural resources and human resources/capacity but with bad and wicked people finding their way to government.

A Nigerian outside Nigeria performs better than when in the soil of Nigeria because their is high level of nepotism that doesn't allow people to grow, no infrastructure to help support investment and small businesses are folding because it can't just survive in the hard economy. The people are suffering serious hardship because of inflation and nothing is done about it, no organized system but corrupt legislatures, judiciary and executives that are only after their pockets. If you are not in government then you are just made miserable, so unfortunate.

[stompix]

Every currencies are highly facing inflation, 1 million dollars in 1985 is like have 30 million dollars today, even the dollar is facing the same fate but the dollar is a very valuable currency over Naira so yes people will see it as a safe haven to avoid inflation.

Where do you get those numbers from? A 97% devaluation of purchasing power?
1 million in 1985 would be 2.87 million now, nowhere near 30 million.
https://www.mclib.info/Research/Local-History-Genealogy/Historic-Prices/Historic-Prices-1985
By that metric, a 2l bottle of cola would have to be $30 now!
Gas was $1.12 it's $3.5 where is the 30x coming from?

Let me put the naira into perspective, in 1985 the rate was 0.89, and now it's 1:1000, losing 1000 the purchasing power against the usd!

Anyhow the government seems to be on the right path to de-dollarization, in 2-3 years nobody in that country would be able to afford even one 1$!  

[Davidvictorson]

Can it be possible for it to ever come down to ₦150?

What goes up does not come down therefore we cannot see the Naira trading at 152 a dollar ever again.
 

If No, then people in that country will be encourage to buy more dollars for holding so that they will take the advantages of it in the future even though it will affect their economy because things has started to rise and if naira continue to rise against dollar then that's how things will continue too.

I do not think that this is a problem the problem there is that the country has to do more expert than. Citizens have to patronize the goods made in the country the services rendered by technicians and others in the country. The dollar has to be abandoned for international transactions. Recently Egypt had a currency swap with Dubai to help boost the Egyptian economy this is another economic measure that the country can adopt. Asking the citizens to buy dollar is like telling the people in a ship to bore holes in the ship because the captain is a terrible person. At the end of the day everyone would drown when the ship capsizes

[Mpamaegbu]

It's a dire situation for the currency and its holders.

It has been calling for the last decade now, from as low as N150 to $1 to N450 and then N750 climbing up to N1000, but the rate of collapse has never been this rapid.

I can remember exchanging a dollar at N110 in 2008, not to even talk of the N450 range. All these things didn't happen a long time ago. Just 15 years ago and the naira is almost like a tissue paper now. How we got to this point should be a fascinating story, honestly. It's a big shame on our political class as it's now obvious it has lost control of our economy.

Just for a record that it is now 1250/$ as the time of writing this post and I’m not shocked because I was already expecting all of this after the election and...

Just imagine it. It's heartbreaking to even think that there were those who shamelessly campaigned and did all they could to enthrone this present administration with mouthed promises that the incoming president would put together eggheads who would man our economy. Those I pity most in this dispensation are the minimum wage earners. How do these people even cope? This hyperinflation and the lack of corresponding increase in the standard of living of Nigerians is a red flag. It could lead to an implosion and increased crime rate in weeks to come (as if we haven't been seeing that already) if nothing urgent is done about this situation.

[DrBeer]

I am trying to exchange some money today and I realize that naira to dollar keeps increasing, today its 1230 naira to $1, it looks like this will keep increasing, no wonder many people are leaving the country, I think it's worth it, the only way this can be normal is if my salary is been paid in dollars.

The last man that indeed tried to change the country for the better in a short period of time was Muritala Mohamed, I believe that it's never going to happen again.

This man who as assassinated by people close to him, and his story makes me believe that if anyone is going to really fix Nigeria, that person is going to have a lot of enemies, because there is no way you want cut some peoples source of illegal money off, and many won't like it.

Truth be told, criminals are the ones leading this country in disguise as noble men, they are in that position for themselves and their families, it's so sad.

I am far from the situation in your country, but I have "experience" of similar problems in my country, as for example it was in the 90s of the last century.
Question - is there an understanding of the real roots of the problems you have mentioned? For example, in my country, there was a noticeable drop in the exchange rate of local currency (Ukraine, hryvnia), in 2014 with the beginning of terrorist aggression of Russia. Everything is "clear" here - seizure, destruction, destruction of entire regions and sectors of the economy. In your country, as far as I know, the situation is not so critical and there are no such processes (God save you from such a disaster).
Nigeria, as far as I know, has been an independent country since 1960 and has a national government, plus very rich resources, including huge deposits of oil and other highly sought-after resources.
The question is - what went wrong, with seemingly very good conditions for the development of the economy?

[Upgrade00]

I can remember exchanging a dollar at N110 in 2008, not to even talk of the N450 range.

I remember doing same around 2016/2017, less than a handful of years ago.
How much value has been lost shows nothing is being created by the economy, SMEs are everywhere but the majority of them end up falling.

Just imagine it. It's heartbreaking to even think that there were those who shamelessly campaigned and did all they could to enthrone this present administration with mouthed promises that the incoming president would put together eggheads who would man our economy.

Appointments by the president were made based on nepotism Ora's a reward to that helped him to climb on that seat.

[Obari]

Just imagine it.

No need to imagine again as we are already seeing this things we could only imagine coming to reality and it seems there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it which is absolutely wrong and I have also seen post of some members from my country saying they're not ashamed as there sre countries who's Nigeria naira is far more better than but I think they forget that this isn't about other countries but about how we are losing  our glory and pride as the gaint of Africa and now turning to a laughing stock which isn't right.
I hope there is actually things that cab be done urgently  about the current situation  of the country else is a bitter ending for the country

[jaberwock]

Unfortunately the entire world is facing financial problems but Africa is having way worse problems than Europe per example. Right now , I don't see any salvation for Africa to be honest because they have too many corrupted people that really don't want anything good to happen with people from that country or with Africa in general.

I also won't be surprised if Nigerian naira will hit even lower rates by the end of the year because inflation and corruption won't go away over night.

This is why we should not despair too much and we must still be thankful for everything that we currently have. I think Europe is too far from Africa so you could have a better example there. But, I guess that's okay since it was only an example anyway lol. I think you are not from Africa so I wouldn't conclude that they don't have a chance to improve. It's the people living there know the real status of their country. And it would be better to just hope for the best on them. This might be one of the effects of corruption. It sucks, but I think it also has to do with the people because they know already know that the person is corrupt but they still vote them due to the bribes.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Nigeria's naira hit a record low of 1,100 per dollar on the black market on Wednesday, online platform abokiFX showed, a day after the currency hit a new low on the official market due to persistent dollar shortages.

It's very frustrating seeing this happening in this trying times, things are getting worse everyday and the current government aren't doing anything effective to fight the fall of the Naira. The government don't care because they mostly have their wealths and investment in foreign currencies. It's the masses that are suffering and things aren't going to change because the election system is rigged. The next coming president will still be won by the highest bidder and nothing can be done about it. I'm not surprised about the continuous fall of the naira because I always knew the naira has always been subsidize just like fuel in the country and immediately the subsidy are been lifted hings will get out of hand. The devaluation of naira is the the number one reason why we Nigerian are investing into Bitcoin to give us some security against our wealth losing value.

I don't know much about the Nigerian economy, but there are certain reasons and wrong economic policies that lead to such a continuous decline of the Nigerian naira against the US dollar.

Bad government that's just the problem, it's the bad governance gives room for more corruption and the unprogressive nature of the country. We are just consuming over here which doesn't add to the economical strength of the country and the politicians are doing this on purpose. They keep borrowings to consume and not to produce and this is putting the country into debts. Things are quite worse than it's been reported. The rate been reported is not even what it's been sold as the scarcity of the dollars is making the local vendor set their own prices and as our economy is dependent on the dollar rate, jt affects everything in the economy starting from fuel to our daily foodstuffs.

[Sithara007]

✂✂✂✂
Let me put the naira into perspective, in 1985 the rate was 0.89, and now it's 1:1000, losing 1000 the purchasing power against the usd!

Anyhow the government seems to be on the right path to de-dollarization, in 2-3 years nobody in that country would be able to afford even one 1$!  

I was looking at the official exchange rates. The decline is somewhat modest during the last 20 years. Two decades back, the exchange rate was 1 USD = 138 Naira, and now it is 1 USD = 818 Naira. Many of the global fiat currencies have gone down even more. One example is that of Turkish Lira. It has gone from 1 USD = 1.48 TRL to 1 USD = 28.15 TRL. Even here in India, the INR has devalued from 1 USD = 31.42 INR to 1 USD = 83.23 INR. The USD is simply too strong for the other fiat currencies. BTW, the black market rates are not that different from the official rates (1100 vs 818).

[stompix]

I was looking at the official exchange rates. The decline is somewhat modest during the last 20 years. Two decades back, the exchange rate was 1 USD = 138 Naira, and now it is 1 USD = 818 Naira.

Oh yeah, losing 84% is not a big deal, I remember how the Euro was going to die because it dropped 10%.

Even here in India, the INR has devalued from 1 USD = 31.42 INR to 1 USD = 83.23 INR. The USD is simply too strong for the other fiat currencies.

In exactly my previous post on this forum, I was denying the fact that karma existed, but I have to retract that statement...
How are those donkey carts doing?
You have nearly the same petrol prices as Slovenia and Poland for 5 times the lower wage, sounds pretty expensive to drive a donkey cart!
But you can always switch to Yuans, after all, that's why the BRICS love exists in the first place isn't it?

It's very frustrating seeing this happening in this trying times, things are getting worse everyday and the current government aren't doing anything effective to fight the fall of the Naira. The government don't care because they mostly have their wealths and investment in foreign currencies. It's the masses that are suffering and things aren't going to change because the election system is rigged. The next coming president will still be won by the highest bidder and nothing can be done about it.

This fatalist mentality is what will guaratee that nothing will ever be done!
We can't do anything because the system is rigged so we won't do anything and just let it be like this till...till when?

This is what wikiepdia gave me for the last elections

Registered   93,469,008
Turnout   26.71%

Basically, the guy won with 8,794,726, which is 6 times less than the ones who didn't want to vote!
If everyone had voted he would have got less than 10% and if the undecided would have backed 4 different candidates each of them would have got 20%, double that of this guy!

[DrBeer]

Anyhow the government seems to be on the right path to de-dollarization, in 2-3 years nobody in that country would be able to afford even one 1$!  

Here the worst thing that can happen is "help from the brotherly people of China"..... The dollar will definitely no longer be a dream, and... actively work for food to save China's economy for the rest of your life. And in fact become a primitive and powerless colony of "Uncle Xi".... So the situation is still likely to change, if now I do not make a fatal step towards China or BRICS (which is essentially synonymous with "yuanization of the economy").

[Antotena]

Just imagine it.

No need to imagine again as we are already seeing this things we could only imagine coming to reality and it seems there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it which is absolutely wrong and I have also seen post of some members from my country saying they're not ashamed as there sre countries who's Nigeria naira is far more better than but I think they forget that this isn't about other countries but about how we are losing  our glory and pride as the gaint of Africa and now turning to a laughing stock which isn't right.
I hope there is actually things that cab be done urgently  about the current situation  of the country else is a bitter ending for the country

You know one of the hardest thing for Nigeria to do, enforcement is there problem. It's one thing to set a policy and it's another thing to enforce it and also it's another task to provide a solution when these policy are pish to the crowd.

The first mistake of this regime government is having a policy without a proper solution, they killed fuel subsidy which was a very good idea but at expenses of what suffering? Temporary palliatives where given yet couldn't patch the broken wall, that is because they enforce a policy without a proper solution. Subsidy should have been remover gradually maybe right from when they came to the office which was may till December period but they completely remove it and now all the price of goods and services has doubled and that's because fuel has doubled.


The quick floating of the Naira was another mistake. Floating of Naira was a good idea also but why float the Naira when there is not enough liquidity in the FX market, it doesn't make sense at all, it was after the damage has been done they decided to fund the FX Market with $10B which they announced yesterday that made Naira appreciate in value. This is the problem I was talking about, enforcement problem and proper solutions aren't there to cushion the hardships for the people.

That was how Buhari enforce everyone to digital transaction at the wrong time, I nearly cried during that time because of cash. You have the money to spend but marketers and traders don't want online transaction, they prefer cash that was too limited to the environment, mehn there is a long way to go with this country Nigeria.

[Marykeller]

I don't know whether the news I heard from someone concerning the naira falling to 1100 per dollar rate is true or not.

The reason behind the sudden drop is because the Central Bank of Nigeria abruptly stopped the decades-old practice of defending the Naira with $1.5 billion every month. It is not because of any act of bad governance. It is a deliberate fiscal policy known as floating the Naira.

For the quoted reason above, the naira fell to that extent and it will continue to fall if Nigerians don't learn how to use their local products rather than using foreign products more

[Gozie51]

I don't know whether the news I heard from someone concerning the naira falling to 1100 per dollar rate is true or not.

The reason behind the sudden drop is because the Central Bank of Nigeria abruptly stopped the decades-old practice of defending the Naira with $1.5 billion every month. It is not because of any act of bad governance. It is a deliberate fiscal policy known as floating the Naira.

For the quoted reason above, the naira fell to that extent and it will continue to fall if Nigerians don't learn how to use their local products rather than using foreign products more

Even though that it is true that it dropped to such extent few days back for whatever reason of policy or whatnot, those are just speech and talk but no real action because the price is back to 1168 per dollar as I'm writing.

It is significant to say that speech would not go anywhere to fortify the naira because there are no organized economy, no real planning for infrastructure growth, no refinery that will help exportation of finished petroleum products, no good macro economic industrialization, so what will buffer those speech or policy? Those are only policies that can help the naira if there are no pressure on the use of foreign currency like dollar. If Nigeria does not rejuvenate her industrial sector and leave her consumption status to exporting status then the naira will get worsened in depreciation of purchase value and that of course means continuous fall of standard of living.