Naira sustains gain at official market, nears 1,000/$ on black market
Naira jumps to 4-month high of 1,142.38/$ at official market as dollar supply doubles
Nigeria’s national currency the Naira sustained gains against the US dollar at the official foreign exchange (FX) market, despite a drop in dollar supply on Monday.
The summary of the FX transactions published by the FMDQ Securities Exchange revealed that the naira appreciated by 0.56 percent as the dollar was quoted at N1,136.04 on Monday, stronger than N1,142.38 quoted on Friday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
The intraday high closed at N1,227 per dollar on Monday, stronger than N1,265/$ closed on Friday. The intraday low also closed strong at N1,000 on Monday, stronger than N1,100 on Friday.
Dollar supply by willing buyers and willing sellers dropped by 10.57 percent to $251.60 million on Monday from $281.34 million recorded on Friday at the NAFEM.
The Naira on Monday showed signs of appreciating to N1,000 before the end of the week as it rose to N1,115 on the black market. Some traders were quoting dollars at the rate of N1,118 and N1,120 on the parallel market on Monday.
At the official foreign exchange (FX) market Naira recorded a four-month high of 1,142.38/$ as dollar supply increased on Friday.
Naira has been appreciating against the dollar since the past few weeks following FX reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“We anticipate that the Naira would continue to strengthen as the CBN intensifies efforts to bolster liquidity in the market,” analysts at Afrinvest said.
Total inflows into the NAFEM increased by 41.7 percent to $3.75 billion as against $2.64 billion in February – the highest level since March 2019 ($6.07 billion), data from the FMDQ indicated.
Nigeria’s Central Bank last week reviewed the exchange rate for the Bureau De Charge (BDC) Operators to N1,101 per dollar from N1,251/$1 as it plans to sell $15.88 million to 1,588 eligible BDCs.
As part of measures to control inflation and stabilise the Naira, the CBN last month raised its benchmark interest rate, known as the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points to 24.75 percent from 22.75 percent in February 2024.
