By Adedapo Adesanya
The new leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signalled no confidence to traders and investors as the Naira was further dealt a heavy blow at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) arms of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, September 25, though it maintained stability against the United States Dollar in the parallel market.
In the official market, the Naira lost 3.41 per cent or N25.49 against the greenback to finish at N773.25/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing rate of N747.76/$1, as the value of forex transactions went down by 58.3 per cent or $64.14 million to $89.61 million from $153.75 million.
Also, the local currency weakened to a new low in the P2P window, shedding N13 against the American currency to settle at N1,006/$1, in contrast to the preceding trading session’s N993/$1.
Last Friday, the CBN announced the resumption of Mr Olayemi Cardoso as the next head of the apex bank, in an acting capacity, pending his confirmation by the Nigerian Senate which alongside the House of Representatives will resume after their six-week annual recess on August 17 shortly after confirming 45 out of the 48 ministerial nominees of President Bola Tinubu.
The new CBN governor will be awaiting official confirmation for the role amid a worrying FX market, high inflation, and increased call to halt interest rate hikes which currently stand at 18.75 per cent.
In the black market, the domestic currency maintained its stability against the Dollar yesterday, closing flat at N993/$1.
Meanwhile, the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar by N5.00 against the British Pound Sterling to close at N924.85/£1 versus Friday’s N929.85/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N22.09 to sell at N829.54/€1 versus N807.45/€1.
A look at the digital currency market showed that most tokens gained on Monday, with Bitcoin (BTC) jumping by 0.6 per cent to $26,293.40 and Ethereum (ETH) growing by 0.8 per cent to $1,590.69.
Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 1.4 per cent to $211.79, Ripple (XRP) rose by 0.6 per cent to $0.5088, Cardano (ADA) climbed higher by 0.6 per cent to $0.2458, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $64.45, and Dogecoin (DOGE) moved up by 0.2 per cent to $0.0609.
However, Solana (SOL) declined by 0.4 per cent to sell at $19.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
Modupe Gbadeyanka