Naira Slides to N452.67/$1 at I&E, N770 at P2P, N745 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira to the United States Dollar has started to decline in the different segments of the foreign exchange ((forex) market as a result of renewed scarcity of FX in the system.

In the past week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had tried to improve the situation, but counter policies have reignited the flames and they could burn down the system.

On Tuesday, the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback at the black market, Peer-to-Peer (P2P), and the Investors and Exporters (I&E) windows of the market.

The demand for forex as the market heads into the Yuletide weakened the Nigerian currency against the Dollar at the I&E window yesterday by N1.67 or 0.26 per cent as it closed at N452.67/$1 compared with Monday’s rate of N451/$1.

Data published by FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the FX turnover for yesterday was $134.04 million, 94.6 per cent or $65.46 million more than the $69.18 million published on Monday.

In the P2P segment, the average exchange rate of the Naira to the Dollar was N770/$1, in contrast to the N768/$1 it was transacted in the preceding session, indicating a decline of N2.

Also, in the parallel market, the local currency lost N1 against the American currency yesterday to sell for N745/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N744/$1.

However, in the interbank window, the Nigerian Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling and the Euro at N544.46/£1 and N474.89/€1, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, transactions were mixed, with Dogecoin (DOGE) going down by 2.7 per cent to $0.0727, and Cardano (ADA) losing 2.3 per cent to trade at $0.2516.

Further, Solana (SOL) recorded a 2.1 per cent slump to quote at $12.08, and Ripple (XRP) fell by 0.5 per cent to settle at $0.3423.

But Bitcoin (BTC) jumped by 0.4 per cent to $16,845.51, Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1,211.99, Litecoin (LTC) grew by 0.2 per cent to $65.18, and Binance Coin (BNB) added 0.03 per cent to trade at $248.74.

As for the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD), they remained unchanged at $1.00 each.