Economy
Naira Trades N1,418/$1 at Official Market, N1,470/$1 at Black Market
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its positive run against the US Dollar on Wednesday, January 7, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) as its value firmed up by 81 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to N1,418.26/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,419.07/$1.
It was not a different story for the domestic currency against the Pound Sterling in the official market as it improved by N3.63 to trade at N1,913.66/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,917.20/£1 and chalked up N3.09 on the Euro to close at N1,657.52/€1 versus Tuesday’s N1,660.31/€1.
At the GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian Naira gained N10 against the greenback yesterday to settle at N1,425/$1 versus the previous day’s N1,435/$1 and closed flat at the black market at N1,470/$1.
The Nigerian currency has continued to perform better at the spot market amid more supportive environment, though analysts have cautioned that global oil market weakness and rising domestic insecurity could hamper the trajectory.
Recent reforms in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market are beginning to yield results with CardinalStone pointing to improved price discovery, better transparency, and stronger FX liquidity as factors that are helping to stabilize the currency.
“We expect Naira to appreciate to a range of N1,350.00/$ – N1,450.00/$ in 2026, supported by improving fundamentals,” according to CardinalStone in a January forecast.
On his part, the Senior Economist at Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Mr Yemi Kale, pointed out that the Naira could trade between N1,313/$1 to a worst level of N1,650/$1 reflecting varying assumptions around oil prices, foreign-exchange (FX) inflows, inflation trends, and policy consistency.
He warned policymakers against weak oil prices or production disruptions reducing FX inflows, deepening FX liquidity crisis and forced currency devaluation.
“We expect the Naira to continue trading in line with prevailing market demand and supply conditions, supported by improving external reserves position,” Anchoria Securities Limited said in a note.
Meanwhile, foreign reserves climbed to $45.623 billion following fresh inflows from investors that participated at the OMO bills auction organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday.
In the cryptocurrency market, there was cooling in the early-January crypto rebound even as broader risk backdrop stayed supportive with a rally in global government bonds and growing bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts, with Ripple (XRP) further down by 6.4 per cent to $2.11.
Further, Ethereum (ETH) slipped by 4.2 per cent to trade at $3,111.31, Cardano (ADA) shrank by 4.1 per cent to $0.3935, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 3.6 per cent to $881.38, and Dogecoin (DOGE) depleted by 3.1 per cent to finish at $0.1432.
In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.8 per cent to finish at $90,015.06, Litecoin (LTC) decreased by 2.7 per cent to close at $80.72, and Solana (SOL) lost 2.6 per cent to sell $135.12, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
