The Nigerian Naira opened at N414.12 to a United States Dollar at the official foreign exchange window on Monday. This represents an improvement of 0.09 percent when compared to N415.10 the local currency closed on Friday.
Investors and exporters traded $93.71 million at the official foreign exchange window during the trading hours of Friday.
As expected the central bank rates were better than the official window. Below are the apex bank rates for Friday, October 29, 2021.
At the unregulated parallel market, the local currency was exchanged at N565 to a United States Dollar on Monday morning, the same rate it traded on Friday.
The slight improvement in Naira value in recent weeks is a result of the marginal increase in the nation’s foreign reserves from $39.620 billion recorded on October 14, 2021, to $41.753 billion as of Monday, November 1, 2021.
Naira’s value is directly proportional to the volume of Nigeria’s foreign reserves given the nation’s economic structure as a petrol-dollar economy. In order to effectively service Africa’s largest population, with its limited local manufacturing, Nigeria’s government had to sell crude oil and use the dollar realised to service its large import-dependent economy while simultaneously supporting the local currency.
However, the weak manufacturing sector and low exportations outside crude oil have impeded Nigeria’s ability to generate enough forex from the non-oil sector to service its economy. While the central bank had implemented several measures and compelled various businesses to stop patronising the black market for their forex needs, the inability of the apex bank to meet the nation’s forex growing demand is what is sustaining the black market – where sellers get paid N565 per dollar against central bank’s N414 stipulated rate.
Meanwhile, the eNaira wallet has been improved to address some of the earlier complaints. Potential customers can now download the improved version.