Relief as Naira Value Grows at Black Market, P2P

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira to the American Dollar grew on Monday at the parallel market and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market.

The Naira had taken heavy beatings in recent weeks as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sent people into panic mode by announcing plans to redesign the banknotes next month. This put pressure on the local currency as currency hoarders were making efforts to mop up Dollars to remain safe.

In the black market yesterday, the Nigerian currency appreciated against the greenback by N15 to trade at N870/$1 compared with Sunday’s value of N885/$1.

In the P2P window, the value of the local currency rose against the US Dollar by N20 to sell for N880/$1 compared with the last Friday’s rate of N900$1.

But at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) segment, the Naira maintained stability against the American currency yesterday at N445.50/$1 despite a significant increase in the value of FX transactions in the spot market.

Business Post reports that FX trades valued at $206.25 million were carried out in the official market, $112.18 million or 119.25 per cent higher than the $94.07 million achieved in the previous session.

However, in the interbank segment, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N10.16 to close at N504.45/£1, in contrast to the previous rate of N494.29/£1, and against the Euro, it fell by N10.42 to close at N439.74/€1 compared with the previous N429.32/€1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, there was heavy shelling as investors were involved in panic selling, with Solana (SOL) shelling 21.0 per cent to sell at $25.54, and Dogecoin (DOGE) falling by 16.1 per cent to $0.0985.

Litecoin (LTC) went down by 12.7 per cent to trade at $62.61, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 9.7 per cent slump to close at $0.4276, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 8.9 per cent to $1,433.97, Cardano (ADA) declined by 7.9 per cent to quote at $0.3752, Binance Coin (BNB) slid by 7.1 per cent to sell for $313.80, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 6.8  per cent to close at $19,453.44.

But the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.