Naira slumps at official market, crosses N1000 mark again

The naira experienced a significant decline on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024, slumping to N1,089.51/$1 at the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window at the end of trading yesterday.

This represents an N232.94 loss or a 27.19% decline in the local currency compared to the N856.57 it closed on Monday.

The intraday high recorded was N1251/$1, while the intraday low was N720/$1, representing a wide spread of N531/$1.

According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading was $97.45 million, representing a 63.34% increase compared to the previous day.

Significantly, this latest depreciation marks the fourth time the Naira has crossed the N1,000/$ threshold.

The first instance occurred on Friday, December 8th, 2023, when the currency reached a historical low of N1,099.05 per dollar.

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This was followed by a brief reprieve before a second depreciation on Thursday, December 28th, 2023, closing at N1,043.09 per dollar while the third time was on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024, when the local currency closed at N1,035.12 per dollar in official market.

However, the naira appreciated slightly at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate, quoted at N1240/$1 as against the previous day rate of N1240/$1, while peer-to-peer traders quoted N1239.45/$1.

Again, the naira lost N10 against the British pound to close at N1,570/£1 as against the N1,560/£1 it traded on Monday, January 8, 2024.

Again, the Canadian dollar maintained a bit of stability to close at N980/CA$1, the same as its closing price yesterday.

The naira also shed N10 against the Euro to slump to ₦1,330/€1 as against the previous closing price of ₦1,320/€1 the previous day.

On the Peer-to-Peer market, an unofficial market actively traded by crypto traders, retail investors, and speculators, the naira traded at about N1230/$ in the early hours of Tuesday from Monday’s rate of N1220/$. In addition, the exchange rate for a dollar to naira on the physical black market buy averaged at about N1,245 against the greenback on Tuesday.