Naira Gains 18%, Trades N815/$1 at NAFEM

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian currency appreciated against its United States counterpart on Tuesday, October 31 after plunging to its lowest level in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) a day earlier.

At the official market yesterday, the value of the Naira to the Dollar improved by 18 per cent or N178.50 to close at N815.32/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N993.82/$1.

The local currency gained weight during the trading session despite the supply of foreign exchange (forex) declining by $13.58 million or 15.4 per cent to $74.73 million from the $88.31 million transacted on Monday, according to data harvested from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

The country has been faced with difficulty in supplying the much-needed FX and multiple promises have not yielded results.

The latest is from the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, who said the government was targeting an exchange rate of N650 to the Dollar by December.

The tax expert predicted that the true value of the Naira would be reflected next month, adding that the government will be introducing new foreign exchange rules (already part of the recommendations his committee made to President Bola Tinubu), including a crackdown on illegal currency trading, to help the naira reach a “fair price” of N650-750 to the Dollar by year-end.

Mr Oyedele also revealed that the government plans to clear a backlog of Dollar demand, bolster the Naira forward market, and set transparent rules for the official market.

He added that the government also wants to expand the official market to include all legitimate transactions while snuffing out the illicit “black market” for foreign currency.

This information may have helped to calm nerves in the black market on Tuesday, as the value of the Naira firmed up by N10 to close at N1,170/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,180/$1.

Also, the local currency appreciated against the American currency in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) section of the FX market by N34 to finish at N1,141/$1, in contrast to Monday’s N1,175/$1.

In the official market segment, the Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro during the session at N1,104.56/£1 and N965.25/€1, respectively.

In the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) made the biggest gain by adding 5.8 per cent to its value to sell at $38.22, as Ripple (XRP) rose by 2.9 per cent to trade at $0.5901, and Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 0.4 per cent to close at $34,408.18, with Ethereum (ETH) going up by 0.3 per cent to sell at $1,802.62.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 4.5 per cent to $0.2872, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 3.2 per cent to sell at $0.067, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 1.8 per cent to $67.81, and Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 1.1 per cent to finish at $224.62, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.