Govt Targets N750 To Dollar By December

Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has stated that the federal government is eyeing December to bring down the dollar rate at the I&E Window to N750 per dollar.

In an interview with Bloomberg News, he said this would involve introducing new foreign exchange rules, including a crackdown on illegal currency trading, to reduce the 45 percent gap between the official and black-market rate the dollar is sold in the country.

He said the government would also clear backlogs of dollar demand estimated at about $6.7 billion, bolster the naira forward market, and set transparent rules for the operations of the official market, said in an interview.

“It also aims to expand the official market to include all legitimate transactions, while snuffing out the illicit “black market” for foreign currency, “ he said.

“We think all of that will happen before December, and maybe in a matter of a couple of weeks we will begin to see the results, such that before the end of the calendar year, naira should find its true value, not the one that is being done currently in the parallel market,” he said.

He added that a “fair price” for the dollar is 650 to 750 naira, which is N802.59 to the dollar but N1,165 at the black market.