Naira Gains 0.04% at I&E, Remains Unchanged at Black Market

May 18, 2021
Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated by 27 kobo or 0.04 per cent on the US Dollar at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, May 17.

At the close of business yesterday, the value of the Naira stood at N411.50/$1 compared with N411.66/$1 it closed at the preceding trading session, which was last Friday.

A decline in the demand for FX at the market segment supported the appreciation in the value of the domestic currency against its American counterpart at the session.

This was because the turnover for the day reduced by 45.2 per cent or $91.89 million as transactions worth $111.53 million were recorded in contrast to $203.42 million of the previous trading day.

At another segment of the FX market, the interbank, there is still confusion as to the current exchange rate of the Naira to the US Dollar.

This is because last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removed the official exchange rate value, N379/$1 from its website, spiking speculations that the apex bank was planning to finally unify all the exchange rates in the country into the I&E as advised by several analysts, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Even the FMDQ Securities Exchange, which tracks the exchange rates at the I&E and interbank windows, still has it at N379/$1 as of May 10 (last Monday), same with a dedicated page on the CBN website for interbank rates.

The speculations of another devaluation of the currency have continued to grow amidst declining government revenue.

In March, the CBN had denied that it had devalued the naira after the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed had reportedly said the government had adopted the I&E rate.

Meanwhile, at the black market, which caters for demands not met at government-regulated channels, the local currency retained its previous value on the US currency at N484/$1.

However, against the Pound Sterling, the local currency gained N2 to close at N678/$1 compared to the previous rate of N680/£1 and closed flat against the Euro at N581/€1.

At the cryptocurrency market, the majority of the tokens tracked by Business Post on the trading platform, Quidax, closed in the positive territory.

The Bitcoin (BTC) saw its value jump by 4.8 per cent to trade at N22,444,829.82; Ethereum (ETH) moved upwards by 7.7 per cent to trade at N1,731,268.27, Ripple (XRP) gained 4.1 per cent to trade at N745, Tron (TRX) appreciated by 4.8 per cent to sell at N57.11, while Litecoin (LTC) improved by 8.6 per cent to sell at N150,998.00.

However, the Dash (DASH) depreciated yesterday by 11.5 per cent to N161,985.55, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) lost 0.2 per cent to sell for N543.90.

Adedapo Adesanya

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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