The naira exchanged to the dollar at 503 at the parallel market on Friday according to the Bureau de Change operators.

Figures obtained from naijbdcs.com, the official website for the licensed BDCs by the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the naira was bought and sold for 502 and 503.5.

This was even as the the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, stated on it's website, that the official rate of the naira to the dollar remains at 410.18/$.

The naira had earlier traded at 504/$ early in July.

At the Investors & Exporter forex window, the naira hit a high of 412.25 but closed at 411.50.

The CBN had earlier said that it was increasing foreign exchange allocated to banks to meet legitimate needs assuring

 that the BDCs would continue to have their weekly allocations.

The CBN had established the I&E forex window as part of efforts to deepen the foreign exchange market and accommodate all forex obligations, noting that the purpose of the window was to boost liquidity in the forex market and ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions.