The Vice President of Nigeria has said that there is a need for the Central Bank of Nigeria to close the gap between the official and black market exchange rates for the naira against the United States dollar.

This was made known on Tuesday to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He stated that as part of the country’s economic recovery and growth plan, the Federal Government was talking to the CBN on the need to ‘unify’ the two exchange rates, Reuters reported.

“The gap between the official and parallel market… it isn’t helpful,” Osinbajo said.

The naira’s official rate, which is controlled by the CBN, has been hovering around 305 against the dollar since it was devalued in June.

The official rate is still 40 per cent stronger than the parallel market rate, and the gap is discouraging investment from overseas.

The situation has left the country starved of foreign currency.

The official and black market rates will be “unified” this year, but there is no time frame, when it can happen, according to Osinbajo.

Financial institutions, among others, have argued that the CBN must allow the naira to float freely to solve the country’s foreign exchange woes, a measure which has met opposition from President Muhammadu Buhari, Punch reported.

The country’s lack of dollars has been exacerbated by a crunch in crude oil production, caused by militant attacks on facilities in the Niger Delta region, and low global prices for oil, on which the Federal Government depends for 90 per cent of its forex earnings.

“The current output is 1.7-1.8 million barrels per day and it could improve as soon as we sort out things in the Delta,” Osinbajo said.