Naira Plunges 8.3% Amid Rush for Dollar at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Naira weakened further by 8.3 per cent or N67.28 on the American Dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, as investors intensified their demand for the greenback ahead of the festive season rush.

Amid a squeeze in the supply of the foreign currency to the market, the value of the local currency closed at N881.88/$1 yesterday compared with the preceding session’s N814.60/$1.

Though the supply of FX into the official market improved by 17.9 per cent or $18.00 million to $118.06 million from $100.06 million quoted on Monday, it was not enough to meet the demand of customers.

Business Post reports that the value of the domestic currency in the peer-to-peer (P2P) arm of the foreign exchange market depreciated against the Dollar during the session by N1, closing at N1,150/$1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,149/$1.

In the same vein, the Naira depleted against the US currency in the parallel market yesterday by N3 to settle at N1,158/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s rate of N1,155/$1.

The Nigerian currency also had a bad day in the official market against the Pound Sterling on Tuesday, as it shrank by N21.13 to close at N1,036.18/£1 versus Monday’s closing price of N1,015.05/£1, and on the Euro, the local currency dropped N16.59 against the Euro to finish at N897.58/€1, in contrast to the preceding day’s N880.99/€1.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $37,000 as a typically hawkish US Federal Reserve governor, Mr Chris Waller, said rate cuts could be on the agenda if inflation continues to decline. It appreciated by 0.6 per cent to sell at $37,201.41.

Further, Solana (SOL) gained 2.1 per cent to sell at $55.85, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 0.9 per cent to trade at $228.49, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.4 per cent jump to settle at $0.6059, and Ethereum (ETH) went up by 0.2 per cent to $2,022.44.

Conversely, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 1.2 per cent to quote at $0.0779, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.3765, and Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.1 per cent to $68.76, while the US Dollar Tether (USDt) and US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.