Naira to reach ‘fair value’ of N750/$ by year-end 2023

The Federal Government is planning to introduce new foreign exchange rules — including a crackdown on illegal currency trading — that it hopes will result in the naira closing its more-than-45 per cent gap with the unofficial rate and reaching a “fair price” by year-end, a top official said.

The government plans to clear a backlog 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, Taiwo Oyedele, chair of the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The government sees a “fair price” for the dollar at N650 to N750, Oyedele said.

In the parallel market, it traded at N1,165 per dollar yesterday, already beginning to recede from the former high of about N1,130 to the dollar.

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,” Oyedele said.