Naira Falls at Across FX Market Segments as CBN Vows to Clear Backlogs

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated in the opening session of the week in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, November 27 against the Dollar by N19.71 or 2.5 per cent as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said the lender was committed to clearing a backlog of foreign exchange (forex).

“We have initiated the payment of unsettled forward foreign exchange obligations, and these payments will continue until all obligations are cleared,” he told bankers last Friday during a dinner speech in Lagos.

However, his assurance could not ease the pressure on the local currency in the official market as it closed at N814.60/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N794.89/$1.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that the supply of FX into the market increased by 31.9 per cent or $24.24 million to $100.06 million from the $75.82 million posted last Friday.

Also, in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment, the Nigerian currency lost N6 against the United States currency yesterday to finish at N1,149/$1, in contrast to the previous trading session’s N1,143/$1.

In the same vein, the Naira depreciated against the greenback by N5 during the session to settle at N1,155/$1 compared with the N1,150/$1 it was exchanged in the preceding trading session.

But the Naira appreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N32.81 on Monday to close at N1,015.05/£1 versus last Friday’s value of N1,047.86/£1 and improved against the Euro by N31.62 to end at N880.99/€1 compared with the previous session’s N912.61/€1.

Meanwhile, the digital currency market was bearish as most of the tokens weakened, with Solana (SOL) making a 4.9 per cent slide to sell at $54.32, followed by Cardano (ADA), which dropped 3.2 per cent to trade at $0.3729.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) swung south by 2.9 per cent to $0.0773, Ethereum (ETH) lost 2.3 per cent to sell at $2,005.42, Litecoin (LTC) fell by 2.2 per cent to $68.27, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 2.0 per cent to $225.36, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.8 per cent depreciation to trade at $0.5986, and Bitcoin (BTC) slumped 1.2 per cent to sell at $36,907.70, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.