Naira Improves to N1,347/$1 at NAFEX on FX Liquidity, Inflation Data Boost

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira improved its value against the US Dollar by N7.64 or 0.56 per cent in the the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, February 16 to N1,347.78/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,355.42/$1.

In the same vein, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N5.41 to sell for N1,839.18/£1 versus last Friday’s closing price of N1,844.59/£1, and gained N9.78 on the Euro to close at N1,598.06/€1 compared with the N1,607.93/€1 it was traded in the previous trading day.

However, at the GTBank forex counter, the Naira lost N2 against the greenback to quote at N1,367/$1 versus the preceding session’s closing value of N1,365/$1, and at the parallel market, it remained unchanged at N1,420/$1.

The currency’s gain was supported by improved FX supply levels after last week’s elevated demand pressures. Licensed Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators fully entered into the official segment taking away some of the delayed demand.

Their presence is expected to boost liquidity and flow while other supply sources including exporters , non-bank corporate, and other market participants pause stoked pressures on the exchange rate.

Latest update revealed that Nigeria’s gross external reserves stayed stronger, adding $135.76 million day-on-day, bringing the total reserves to $47.81 billion.

Further support also came as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate decelerated to 15.10 per cent in January, down from the 15.15 per cent recorded in December 2025. The January 2026 print showed a decrease of 0.05 per cent compared to the December 2025 Headline inflation rate while on an annualised basis, it was 12.51 per cent lower than the rate recorded in January 2025 (27.61 per cent).

This development strengthens the case for a rate cut when the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets next week.

In the cryptocurrency market, the tokens tracked ended in green as traders remained cautious despite US interest rate data raising odds of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in June after a report that showed inflation rose less than expected in January.

The backdrop of the weak US consumer price index data released last week that kept hopes of the US central bank rate cuts alive.

The CPI growth slowed to 2.4 per cent year-on-year in January from 2.7 per cent in December, the official data showed, reinforcing expectations for at least two 25 basis point rate cuts.

Cardano (ADA) added 2.8 per cent to trade at $0.2861, Litecoin (LTC) improved by 2.2 per cent to $55.09, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.9 per cent to $86.42, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 1.8 per cent to $623.25, Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.5 per cent to $1.47, and Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.9 per cent to $1,977.54.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) depleted by 1.9 per cent to $0.0999, and Bitcoin went down by 0.2 per cent to $68,300.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.