Naira Strengthens to N1,327 Per Dollar at Official FX Window

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira further appreciated against the United States Dollar by N2.20 or 0.15 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, September 22, to trade at N1,327.78/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,329.80/$1.

Equally, the local currency strengthened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX window during the session by N6.69 to close at N1,774.31/£1 versus Monday’s N1,781.00/£1, and gained N5.77 against the Euro to finish at N1,521.37/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,527.14/€1.

However, the domestic currency weakened against the US Dollar at the GTBank forex counter yesterday by 50 Kobo to N1,337.50/$1 from N1,337/$1, and traded flat at the black market at N1,370/$1.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, on Tuesday said the FX market had become more transparent and liquid, with daily turnover sometimes exceeding $1 billion.

Speaking at the end of the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday, he said the apex bank will not target a predetermined exchange rate for the Naira, insisting that the currency’s value should be determined by market conditions and underlying economic fundamentals, arguing that the current exchange-rate framework was responding to reforms implemented by the CBN.

“A very important issue at the present level, the country does need a competitive currency,” the governor said.

At the September MPC meeting, the committee cut the country’s interest rate by a bold 350 basis points to 23 per cent from 26.50 per cent, after moderated inflation, largely attributed to improved exchange-rate stability.

The CBN has also maintained that its broader foreign-exchange reforms are intended to improve transparency and reduce distortions in the market.

Data released by the CBN showed that interbank FX turnover fell by 14.8 per cent to $99.170 million from $116.413 million at the previous close.

The US Dollar volume was generated across 130 FX deals at the interbank window, down from 102 deals on Monday.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was positive, which analysts attributed to the US House of Representatives committee approval of a bill that would create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and an exemption from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowing on-chain trading of tokenised US stocks.

Ripple (XRP) rose by 6.9 per cent to $1.61, Cardano (ADA) gained 6.0 per cent to sell at $0.2583, Solana (SOL) expanded by 2.0 per cent to $118.79, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 1.9 per cent to $0.1017, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped by 1.4 per cent to $86,472.61, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 1.1 per cent to $2,758.26, and Binance Coin (BNB) advanced by 0.7 per cent to $791.71.

But TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $0.3438, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.