Naira berths at N1,320 to dollar in parallel market

At the close of business on Tuesday, the naira settled at N1,300/$ at the parallel foreign exchange market.

This is compared to N1,280/$ which it closed at on Monday and N1,260 against the greenback last week.

The local currency is also currently trading above N1,300/$ on the Peer-to-Peer cryptocurrency window, an unofficial market actively traded by crypto traders, retail investors, and speculators on Tuesday.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency lost some grounds against the greenback as it closed at N878.57/$ as against N838.95 to the dollar, on Monday.

Nigeria is currently struggling with a severe crunch in the supply of foreign exchange (forex), which negatively impacts the value of the Naira, its national currency. Both the official and the unofficial forex markets are afflicted by what is basically a liquidity and flow challenge.

A number of initiatives and ideas have been mooted which largely relate to borrowing or finding ways to incentivise portfolio flows. Despite supportive oil prices, there is limited discussion around boosting organic forex flows from Nigeria’s oil exports.