Naira Crashes to N1,479.47/$1 at NAFEM Despite Improvement in FX Supply

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, February 8 by N60.69 or 4.3 per cent to trade at N1,479.47/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,418.78/$1.

Also, the Nigerian Naira weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N42.93 to end at N1,824.82/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,781.89/£1 and against the Euro, it depreciated by N34.68 to sell at N1,556.62/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s rate of N1,521.94/€1.

This domestic currency put up a poor performance on Thursday despite an improvement in the supply of foreign exchange (FX) into the market, as data showed that the value of forex sales during the session was $321.23 million, 57.5 per cent or $117.30 million higher than the $203.93 million achieved in the previous trading session.

It was not a different scenario for the local currency in the peer-to-peer (P2P) segment of the FX market, as it fell by N7 to sell at N1,470/$1 compared with the midweek session’s N1,463/$1.

In the same vein, the Nigerian currency lost N15 against the greenback in the black market yesterday to settle at N1,500/$1 versus the preceding day’s value of N1,485/$1.

The rates are yet to find a stable footing as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intensified efforts to spur liquidity in the FX market.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) hit a fresh high of $46,000 in the cryptocurrency market on Thursday, selling at $46,197.40 after chalking up 3.9 per cent. This is the highest it has reached since the new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) opened for trade.

Cardano (ADA) jumped by 4.9 per cent to $0.5379, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 3.5 per cent to $104.91, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 3.4 per cent to $71.04, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.5 per cent to sell at $320.57, Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.4 per cent to $0.5173, Ethereum (ETH) improved by 1.2 per cent to $2,450.27, and Dogecoin (DOGE) advanced by 0.8 per cent to $0.0806, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained intact at $1.00 each.