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Naira sustains recovery against Dollar at official, black market

Published

9 months ago

April 3, 2024

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Naira has continued its recovery against the dollar at the official window to trade at ₦1278.58/$1 on the first official trading day in April 2024 data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) has shown.

This represents a gain of N30.81 for the local currency when compared to the N1,309.39/$1 it traded the previous trading day.

The intra-day high was N1,312/$1 while the intra-day low was N1,250/$1 representing a lean spread of N52/$1.

Similarly, the naira appreciated against the dollar at the parallel window to trade at N1,255/$1, this represents an appreciation of N75.00 as against the N1,330 /$1 it traded the previous day.

The naira also appreciated against the British Pound to trade at N1,750/£1 as against the previous trading day’s price of N1,840/£1 representing a gain of N90 for the local currency

After over a week of closing flat, the Canadian dollar depreciated against the naira to trade at N1,150| CA$1 as against the N1,220| CA$1 it traded the previous day.

The naira also gained a massive N140 against the Euro to trade at ₦1,360/€1 as against the previous closing price of ₦1,500/€1.

The recent rise in the naira’s value is largely due to the reforms by the central bank, including a notable interest rate increase of 600 basis points over two months. As a result, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) surged from 18.75% at the start of the year to 24.75% by March’s end.

The central bank has been proactive in regulating the activities of Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to curb speculation, proposing increased share capital requirements of N2bn for Tier 1 licenses and N500 million for Tier-2 licenses.

Moreover, the bank has initiated the sale of foreign exchange to BDCs at a set rate, enforcing a maximum selling price, and has revoked the licenses of over 4,000 BDC operators nationwide in a significant regulatory crackdown.