Nigeria finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also known as the Apex bank and bankers’ bank will try to eliminate the spread between the official and black market exchange rate against the dollar.

The naira is trading on the parallel market some 40 per cent lower than the official rate, as low global crude prices have dried up vital oil revenues and pushed Africa’s largest economy into recession which is crippling many businesses in Nigeria.

According to ceoafrica, the CBN scrapped a 16-month-old peg of N197 to the dollar in June, but it continues to trade in the official market, so that the naira remains far stronger against the dollar there than on the parallel market.

The government has blamed the black market for damaging the already shaky economy, in which Adeosun claimed the CBN is working on elimination of arbitrage whose process wasn’t disclosed, and that CBN is making efforts at removing the price difference.

Buttressing the claims, a CBN spokesman, Isaac Okorafor said the apex bank was working towards ensuring that the forex market operates effectively as expected as Adeosun said the arbitrage opportunity is the responses to manufacturers’ demand of incentives with which to produce.

Okorafor added that the aim was to eradicate black market which would be achieved as the naira has traded around N305.5 to the dollar on the official interbank market since August, while it was quoted at N487 to the dollar on the parallel market on Monday.