By Adedapo Adesanya
An improvement in the crude oil output in Nigeria has eased the pressure on the Naira against its peers in the foreign exchange (forex) market, Business Post reports.
Nigeria, which mainly depends on the sale of oil for FX earnings, has struggled lately with revenue as a result of the stealing of the commodity. This has put a strain on the external reserves and has made it difficult for the country to meet its forex demands.
But the latest development showed that the crude oil production had improved significantly in the past month, as the country now produces about 1.6 million barrels per day compared with less than a million barrels per day about two months ago.
This has given the Naira the strength to compete with the US Dollar at the various segments of the FX market in Nigeria, appreciating yesterday at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment, and the parallel market.
On Monday, the local currency gained 50 Kobo or 0.11 per cent against the greenback in the I&E market to trade at N446.00/$1 compared with the previous session’s N446.50/$1.
This occurred as the forex turnover for the day moderated by 51.9 per cent or $84.09 million to $78.08 million from last Friday’s $162.17 million.
Also, in the P2P segment, the domestic currency appreciated against the American Dollar by N6 yesterday to trade at N765/$1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N771/$1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency gained N3 against the greenback during the trading day to quote at N740/$1 compared with last Friday’s exchange rate of N743/$1.
However, in the interbank segment, the Naira lost N5.83 against the Pound Sterling on Monday to close at N546.99/£1 versus N541.16/£1 and against the Euro, it fell by N10.27 to close at N477.70/€1 versus N467.43/€1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was with a positive vibe yesterday as Litecoin (LTC) closed higher by 2.8 per cent at $76.51.
Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 2.2 per cent to $0.0897, Ripple (XRP) grew by 2.1 per cent to $0.3827, Ethereum (ETH) also appreciated by 2.1 per cent to $1,272.55, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.4 per cent to $17,175.59, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $13.11, and Cardano (ADA) recorded a 0.2 per cent increase to sell at $0.3035.
However, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 4.7 per cent depreciation to trade at $268.66, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained changed at $1.00.
