By Chioma Obinagwam
The Nigerian Foreign Exchange(Forex) market has recorded $2.20 billion shortfall in the value of transactions for the month of April.
The FMDQ report for the month ended April 30, 2018 indicated.
The $2.20 billion decline represents 11.80 per cent decline from the $18.67 billion achieved in the month of March 2018 compared to $16.47 billion (₦5.47 trillion), where it settled in the review period of April, 2018.
The value of transactions in the Forex Liquidity flows via the Investor and Exporter Forex Window decreased as the total volumes traded for the month settled at $4.74 billion, representing a 21.78 per cent ($1.32 billion) decrease from the previous month ($6.06 billion).
So far, the total volumes traded at the Window Year-to-Date stands at $19.95 billion. Exchange rates for the Naira depreciated at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) FX Window as rates closed the reporting month at $/₦360.51 from $/₦360.20 as at March 29, 2018, whilst also trading at a discount to the Parallel Market which maintained the same rate at the beginning and end of the month at $/₦362.
More so, the report indicated that transaction turnover in the Fixed Income and Currency (FIC) markets for the month of April amounted to ₦14.94 trillion; a 4.59 per cent (₦0.72trn) decrease from the value recorded in March and a 69.81 per cent (₦6.14 trillion) increase Year on Year(YoY).
A breakdown of the report showed that activities in the Treasury bills’ market accounted for 45.85 per cent (35.69 per cent in March) of total turnover, while the Foreign Exchange (FX) market accounted for 36.60 per cent (39.06 per cent in March) of the total turnover. In the same period, the Money Market (Repurchase Agreements (Repos)/Buy-Backs & Unsecured Placements/Takings) accounted for 11.17 per cent of market turnover (17.62 per cent in March). These three segments collectively contributed about 93.61 per cent to the total turnover in the FIC markets.