Naira drops second day in a row at official market

Naira fell against the US dollar for the second day in a row on Wednesday with a 0.12% depreciation to close at N416.25/$1 compared to N415.75/$1 recorded as of the close of trading activities on Tuesday, 1st February 2022.

On the other hand, the exchange rate at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) market appreciated to its highest level in a month to trade at N569.9/$1 on Thursday morning compared to N570/$1 recorded in the previous day.

Forex turnover at the official market dropped by 38.3% to $102.07 million compared to $165.3 million recorded in the previous trading session.

On the other hand, the exchange rate appreciated by 0.02% at the P2P market on Thursday morning, trading at a minimum of N569.9/$1 compared to N570/$1 recorded on Wednesday morning.

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Naira closed flat at N568/$1 at the parallel market, the same as recorded in the previous trading session.

Nigeria’s foreign reserve declined by $80.55 million on Monday to close at $40.04 billion as of 31st January 2022, representing a 0.2% decline compared to $40.12 billion recorded as of 28th January 2022. This means that the external reserve declined by $481.4 million in January 2022.

The exchange rate at the Investors and Exporters window closed at N416/$1 on Wednesday, 2nd February 2022, which represents a 0.12% depreciation compared to N415.75/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.

The opening indicative rate closed at N415.5/$1 on Wednesday, which represents 32 kobo depreciation compared to N415.18/$1 recorded in the previous trading session.

An exchange rate of N444/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N416.25/$1, while it sold for as low as N408/$1 during intra-day trading.

Forex turnover at the official window decreased by 38.3% to $102.07 million on Wednesday, 2nd February 2022.

Nigeria’s external reserve dropped by 0.07% on Tuesday, 1st February 2022 to close at $40.01 billion, which represents a decline of $27.36 million from the $40.04 billion recorded as of the previous day.

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The continuous decline in the country’s reserve level can be attributed to the Central Bank’s intervention in the official market in ensuring the stability of the exchange rate and the inability of Nigeria to meet crude oil production quota.

Nigeria’s reserve level declined by $481.37 million in January 2022 following the $66.17 million dip recorded in the previous month. Year-to-date, Nigeria’s reserve has declined by $508.7 million despite the rally at the global crude oil market.