FX Liquidity Crisis Weakens Naira at Official Market, P2P

By Adedapo Adesanya

The stubborn foreign exchange (FX) liquidity crisis in Nigeria further put pressure on the Naira on Thursday, as it depreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) segments of the forex market.

However, the case was different in the parallel market segment of the market as the Naira appreciated against the greenback at the close of business.

In the official market, the local currency lost 3.9 per cent or N28.52 to settle at N768.60/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N740.08/$1, amid a contraction in the value of FX transactions yesterday.

The turnover for the trading session was $88.66 million, 72.8 per cent or $64.62 million lower than the $153.28 million reported a day earlier.

In the P2P window, the value of the Nigerian Naira depleted against the US Dollar on Thursday by N22 to sell at N872.00/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing rate of N850.00/$1.

But in the black market, the domestic currency gained N1 against its American counterpart to sell at N869/$1 versus the midweek session’s exchange rate of N870/$1.

Against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the Naira traded flat in the official market at N962.76/£1 and N824.41/€1, respectively.

As for the digital currency market, tokens witnessed falls as the markets faced worries after hikes in interest rates by top world economies.

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday hiked its interest rate after the US Federal Reserve made the same move earlier this week while the Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained low-interest rates.

As a result, Bitcoin (BTC) slumped 0.9 per cent to $29,205.50, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.0 per cent to $1,861.55, Solana (SOL) crashed by  1.4 per cent to $24.80, and Cardano (ADA) dropped 1.3 per cent to trade at $0.3082.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.9 per cent slide to sell at $240.34, Ripple (XRP) shed 0.8 per cent to trade at $0.712, and Litecoin (LTC) slumped by 0.04 per cent to $91.15, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.