Naira Crashes to N1,550/$1 at NAFEM, N1,560/$1 at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira crashed to its lowest level in weeks to N1,550.74/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, April 4, as wider tariffs instituted by the United States took its toll on it.

At the currency market yesterday, the exchange rate of the Nigerian currency to its American counterpart depreciated by 1.25 per cent or N19.11. On Wednesday, the price was N1,531.63/1$.

The US President, Mr Donald Trump, unveiled sweeping reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, announcing baseline 10 per cent duties on imports from all trading partners, and much higher rates for some nations.

Nigeria, a trading partner, was hit with a 27 per cent import tariff and a 14 per cent reciprocal tariff.

According to African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), the move will likely affect the country’s FX earnings as it could trigger a weakness in oil demand.

At the spot market, the local currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N60.63 to sell for N2,043.29/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,982.66/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N65.42 to finish at N1,722.38/€1 versus N1,656.96/€1.

At the black market, the domestic currency slumped against the greenback during the trading day by N5 to sell for N1,560/$1, in contrast to midweek’s rate of N1,555/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it remained bearish as traders worried about the risk associated with President Donald Trump’s 10 per cent baseline levy on all imports to the country.

Solana (SOL) dropped 1.9 per cent to sell at $116.39, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 1.8 per cent to $595.28, Ethereum (ETH) dwindled by 1.2 per cent to $1,801.26, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 0.6 per cent to $0.1642, and Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 0.2 per cent to $83,069.98.

However, Cardano jumped by 0.7 per cent to $0.6531, Ripple (XRP) increased its value by 0.7 per cent to $2.05, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 0.3 per cent to $83.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.