With business operations gaining traction after the Yuletide and New Year celebrations globally, Nigeria’s currency, the Naira firmed up its exchange rate against the greenback (USD) on Wednesday, trading at N738/$1 in the early hours at the parallel market.
The Naira’s exchange rate showed a marginal appreciation of 0.94% when compared to the N745/$1 it exchanged at the previous day
Black market dealers spoken with by our correspondent, linked the local currency’s appreciation to improved supply of US dollar as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has opened FX window to Nigerians to pay school fees for their children and other wards studying overseas.
However, the local currency depreciated at the cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer (P-2-P) exchange by 0.3% to trade at a minimum of N747.85/$1 from N745.75/$1 it recorded the preceding day.
On Tuesday, the Naira had exchanged at the investors and exporters (I&E) window with a marginal gain to close at N461.5/$1 from N461.67/$1 it recorded in the previous trading session.
Some experts link the currency’s appreciation at the official window to a 149.6% surge in FX turnover the previous day when a total of $117.63 million in FX value was traded at the window, compared to $47.13 million traded the previous day.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that Nigeria’s external reserves increased to $37.2 billion, representing a 0.09% increase from the $37.16 billion recorded last Friday, representing a fourth successive increase in the nation’s foreign reserves.
