The Naira depreciated in exchange value again at the black market in the early hours of Tuesday, trading at N740/$1 in the black market, representing a depreciation of 0.68% when compared to the N735/$1 it traded last Friday.
However, the local currency recorded marginal appreciation in the cryptocurrency peer-to-peer (P2P) FX market, at which it traded at a minimum of N716.4/$1, gaining 2.77% when compared to the N736.8/$1 it traded early last Friday.
Traders, who spoke with our correspondent along Allen Avenue axis in Lagos linked the weakening exchange rate of the Naira to surging demand for the dollar in the face of limited supply.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate between Naira and US dollar at the official market maintained its position as it closed at N437.03/$1 on Friday, the same as recorded in the previous session.
In the day under review, the local currency’s opening indicative rate closed at N437/$1 the same rate it exchanged on Thursday.
Data from the market regulators indicated that the Naira recorded the highest exchange rate during intra-day trading of N441/$1 before it settled at N437.03/$1 and finally traded as low as N435/$1.
The data further showed that Nigeria’s external reserve stood at $38.28 billion last Thursday, September, representing 0.09% decline from $38.3 billion recorded the preceding day.
Over the past few years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been supplying dollars to FX traders at the official window and until recently, the Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the past years to achieve some stability in the Naira exchange rate.
According to data sourced from the apex bank on its interventions in the FX market indicated that it injected $3.36 billion into the market in December 2021 and January this year as part of its efforts to stabilize the national currency’s exchange rate.
Many financial experts have partly linked the sustained interventions of the CBN in the FX market to the nation’s low foreign reserve, which has been oscillating between $38 billion and $41 billion for the past few months.
