By Adedapo Adesanya
After the Supreme Court on March 3, 2023, cancelled the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian currency depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.
Data obtained by Business Post revealed that the Naira lost 35 Kobo or 0.08 per cent against the greenback in the official market yesterday to trade at N461.75/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N461.40/$1.
This came as daily forex turnover in the spot market reduced by 29.9 per cent or $28.87 million to $67.57 million from the $96.44 million recorded in the previous trading day.
Yesterday, the apex court also extended the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 currency notes till December 31.
A seven-member panel of the court led by Justice John Okoro unanimously directed that the CBN must continue to receive the old notes from Nigerians.
The court held that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign of the new notes and withdrawal of the old notes was done without due consultation, declaring the process invalid.
However, in the peer-to-peer (P2P) window of the FX market, the local currency traded flat against the American currency at N764/$1, and in the parallel market, it also remained unchanged at N752/$1.
But in the interbank segment, the Naira lost against the Euro on Friday by 18 Kobo to sell at N489.27/€1 versus N489.09/€1, and against the Pound Sterling, it declined by N2.01 to quote at N553.24/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N551.23/£1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was mixed yesterday following the recent developments surrounding Silvergate Bank, which has been providing a payment network for many crypto businesses.
On Wednesday, the California-based company delayed publishing its annual report, saying that further unreported losses could mean the bank is “less than well capitalized.”
This had a ripple effect on Bitcoin (BTC), which fell by 0.12 per cent to sell at $22,347.21, and weakened Ethereum (ETH) by 0.08 per cent to $1,567.52, as Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.19 per cent depreciation to trade at $289.80.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.9 per cent to $0.3752, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.2 per cent to $0.3404, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 1.1 per cent to $0.0763, Litecoin (LTC) also expanded by 1.1 per cent to $90.02, while Solana (SOL) appreciated by 0.6 per cent to $21.14, as the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) closed flat at $1.00.
Dipo Olowookere