Nigeria’s currency, the Naira, sustained its losing streak in the parallel market on Thursday, to trade at an average of N745/$1, representing a 0.27% decrease in its exchange value of N743/$1 recorded in the previous day’s trading session.
Information sourced from FX dealers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), indicated that the local currency’s sustained depreciation at the black market over the past few days was not unconnected to current slowdown in business activities nationwide.
Interestingly, the Naira gained in exchange rate against the Euro to trade at N810/€1, reflecting a 0.49% value addition from the N814/€1 it traded on Wednesday
However, the exchange rate between local currency and Pound Sterling remained unchanged at an average of N935/£1 on Thursday, the same rate it exchanged at during the previous day’s trading session.
At the cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer (P-2-P) Exchange market, the Naira depreciated by 0.19%, to trade at a minimum of N747.75/$1 from N746.35/$1 it exchanged at on Wednesday.
According to data from the unofficial FX market, the Naira opened the year at an average rate of N736/$1 in the parallel market, recorded its strongest exchange rate at N775/$1 on 20th February 2023 and its lowest exchange value at N730/$1 on 5th January 2023.
In furtherance of its monetary policy measures, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has over the past few years consistently been supplying dollars to FX traders at the parallel and official window markets to stabilize the local currency’s exchange rate against major foreign currencies.
However, due to FX round tripping issues among the BDC dealers, the apex bank ended FX supply to the operators sometime in year 2020 to avoid further abuses of its interventions in the FX market.
