Naira appreciates at official market

The Naira appreciated on Monday at the official foreign exchange (FX) market, closing at N1,419.86 to the dollar as against N1,435.53 to the greenback which it closed on Friday, February 02, 2024, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), data from the FMDQ showed.

This is coming after the CBN governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso assured the market on Monday that the right decisions are being taken at the apex bank and that with the ongoing reforms in the foreign exchange market, the difference between the official and parallel market is minimal and serves as a disincentive to arbitrage.

Dealers said the activities in the official market reflected dollar sales by banks in response to the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on selling their excess dollars to the official FX market.

On the other hand, the currency depreciated on Monday February 05, 2024 at the parallel FX market window, as it shaded N0. 40k to close at N1,450 to the dollar compared with N1,410 to the greenback which it closed on Friday, February 02, 2024.

Similarly, the naira tumbled against the Great Britain Pounds (GBP), closing at N1,860/£ compared to Friday’s closing of N1,850/£.

Meanwhile, the volume of dollar transactions or the daily FX market turnover rose to $440.13 million on Friday from $156.86 million recorded on Thursday.

The supply of US dollars surged at the official foreign exchange market, rising to 180.59 percent to $440.13 million last Friday as commercial banks rushed to avoid the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulatory sanction.