Naira Loses N1.07 Against Dollar at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Naira gave up N1.07 or 0.08 per cent against the United States Dollar on Wednesday in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to quote at N1,334.72/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,333.65/$1.

In the same official market, the local currency weakened further against the Pound Sterling by N3.04 to end at N1,787.73/£1 versus N1,784.69/£1, and lost N2 against the Euro to close at N1,499.29/€1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,497.29/€1.

However, in the black market, the Naira traded flat against the US Dollar yesterday at N1,358/$1 and also traded flat at the GTBank FX desk at N1,340/$1.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX turnover rose by 110 per cent to $127.628 million from $60.715 million, with the number of FX deals up to 95 deals from 70 deals.

The Naira is relatively stable amid stronger formal remittance inflows and an increase in Nigeria’s external reserves, which have provided a stronger buffer against FX pressures.

In the near term, market analysts expect the local currency to sustain this movement but warned that rising government borrowing could threaten the currency’s outlook.

The Governor of the CBN, Mr Yemi Cardoso, noted that greater stability could encourage investment and support the development of financial products designed around a more predictable macroeconomic environment.

As for the cryptocurrency market, the majority of benchmarked coins were in red as disappointing corporate outlooks and renewed doubts about artificial intelligence spending weighed on US stock futures and Asian markets, while oil rose amid renewed Middle East tensions.

Cardano (ADA) slipped by 2.0 per cent to $0.2177, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 1.9 per cent to $0.0797, Solana (SOL) shrank by 1.1 per cent to $104.61, and Binance Coin (BNB) crashed by 0.6 per cent to $738.23.

Further, Ethereum (ETH) dipped by 0.2 per cent to $2,430.94, Bitcoin (BTC) depreciated by 0.1 per cent to $82,513.38, and TRON (TRX) also depleted by 0.1 per cent to $0.3303, while Ripple (XRP) rose by 0.7 per cent to $1.34, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) flat at $1.00 apiece.