Apprehension Heightens as Naira Sells N1,466/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira fell by 0.5 per cent or N6.58 on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM)on Friday, trading at N1,466.31/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,459.73/$1.

The recent losses suffered by the Nigerian currency had made it to become one of the worst-performing currencies in the world, just weeks after it was on the opposite side.

In March, the Naira dropped to a low of N1,600/$1 at the official market, forcing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to institute some policy moves, which yielded positive results, albeit short-term, because recent trends show that the local currency is heading back south. This could spur the injection of fresh FX in the coming days.

Data showed that there was a rise in the supply of forex into the spot market during the session as the turnover stood at $113.78 million, 34.8 per cent or $29.40 million higher than the $84.38 million recorded a day earlier.

Business Post reports that the Naira lost N135 against the Pound Sterling in the official market on Friday, selling at N1,800.62/£1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,765.90/£1 and shed N29.67 against the Euro to close at N1,551.04/€1 versus N1,521.37/€1.

Also, the domestic currency further declined against the greenback in the parallel market on Friday by N15 to settle at N1,470/$1, in contrast to the previous trading day’s value of N1,455/$1.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies fell during the trading session, with Solana (SOL) slumping by 6.1 per cent to trade at $145.49, Dogecoin (DOGE) weakened by 4.9 per cent to $0.1445, and Ethereum (ETH) depreciated to $2,919.68.

In addition, Cardano (ADA) went south by 3.8 per cent to $0.4486, Bitcoin (BTC) slid by 3.7 per cent to sell at $60,913.37, Litecoin (LTC) lost 2.9 per cent to quote at $80.73, Ripple (XRP) dropped 2.4 per cent to finish at $0.5056, and Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 1.6 per cent to $586.46, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.