Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Despite a three-day break, the Naira’s strength showed no signs of abating as it further appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 7.2 per cent or N30.81 to exchange at N1,142.38/$1 on Friday compared with Monday’s closing rate of N1,230.61/$1.
The market had only traded on Monday as the Muslims in the country joined others across the globe to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr, the end of Ramadan.
The recent policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the foreign exchange (FX) market have continued to yield positive results, with the market easing from an unprecedented high a month ago.
This also beats expectations from analysts.
In February, Goldman Sachs projected that the Naira would strengthen to N1,200/$1 this year, and at the current level; it has advanced beyond this point.
The leadership of the CBN, spearheaded by Governor Yemi Cardoso, has reiterated its position on several occasions to focus on its core objectives.
However, observers told Business Post that the market cannot rely only on monetary policies to remain strong in the long run, it must be complemented by other fundamentals including productivity, infrastructure, and efficient capital allocation.
The efforts by the central bank to increase liquidity have helped the local currency, and yesterday, data showed a 124.1 per cent or $125.55 million surge in the value of forex transactions to $281.34 million from $125.55 million.
Also, in the official market, the domestic currency gained N7.24 against the Pound Sterling during the session to settle at N1,566.93/£1 versus N1,574.17/£1 and against the Euro, it improved by N5.60 to trade at N1,344.83/€1 versus N1,350.43/€1.
In the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira was exchanged with the Dollar yesterday at N1,140/$1.
On Friday, cryptocurrencies tumbled due to risk-off sentiment in traditional markets amid flared-up geopolitical risks, with Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciating by 13.8 per cent to $0.1722.
Cardano (ADA) went down by 13.3 per cent to $0.5081, Litecoin (LTC) plunged by 12.8 per cent to $85.70, Solana (SOL) slumped by 12.4 per cent to $152.59, Ripple (XRP) slid by 10.9 per cent to $0.5455, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 7.8 per cent to quote at $3,256.03, Binance Coin (BNB) declined by 5.5 per cent to $591.12, and Bitcoin (BTC) shrank by 4.9 per cent to $67,340.67, with the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) trading flat $1.00 apiece.
