Naira Remains Under Pressure Amid Weak Macro Fundamentals

The Nigerian Naira plunged as low as N422 to a United States Dollar on the NAFEX window on Wednesday before moderating to N410 following a series of weak macroeconomic fundamentals released in recent weeks.

Nigeria’s inflation rate increased by 18.17 percent year-on-year in March while the unemployment rate rose to 33.33 percent with new job creation hovering at a record low amid weak economic productivity.

The commodity-backed currency traded at N486 to a US Dollar on the parallel market popularly known as the black market.

Against the British Pound, the local currency was exchanged at N670 and N577 to a Euro common currency.

At the Bureau De Change segment of the foreign exchange market, Naira traded at N482 per US Dollar; N670 per British Pound and N580 to a Euro.

In an effort to up revenue generation and ease exposure to the unstable global oil market, the Federal Government of Nigeria had removed electricity tariffs, fuel subsidy, introduced other import related charges and devalued the local currency more than three times in the last 12 months despite the negative impact of COVID-19 on the masses.

The series of adjustments dragged on economic productivity as importers and other forex-dependent businesses struggle with persistent dollar scarcity largely due to low foreign reserves of $35 billion caused by weak crude oil production and OPEC production cap.

The apex bank’s inability to service the economy with sufficient dollar to ease liquidity challenges in spite of various measures introduced recently to lure diaspora to remit more escalated prices of goods while the surge in electricity tariff, petrol price and other increments were passed on to already stressed customers.