The Nigerian Naira stands at N416.39 against the U.S. Dollar at the official foreign exchange market amidst developing strategic policies to save the Naira from the daring threat of collapse.
The naira has sadly maintained this range with the dollar for weeks even as it also showed a slight increase with the Pounds Sterling at N547.0115 from N546.7595. Investors King observes that the Nigerian currency however had a slight improvement against the Euro with the exchange closing at N459.1116 from the N460.269 it traded last Thursday.
The Dollar to Naira rates at the unregulated black market also stands at N581 to $1.
Saving the Naira
In a bid to save the Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has devised a number of policies to strengthen the local currency and increase its performance in the exchange market. Policies like Naira4Dollar – to promote foreign remittance; The CBN adopting the NAFEX rates – to reduce FX subsidy by at least 7.5%; Ban on BDCs and creation of Bank-supported Forex platforms for customers; Eurodollar borrowing – to boost foreign reserves; The creation of e-Naira to complement the naira in a digital setting.
While all these policies are targeted at saving the Naira, the troubles of the continent’s largest economy are still very much persistent and highlighted a number of underlying issues like Inflation Rate Differential, Balance of Trade challenges, Foreign reserves balances, Interest rate differentials, e.t.c.
Earlier reports already show that Nigeria’s foreign reserves currently stand at $39.755 billion following a steep decline of $129.210 million in the past weeks.
CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee Meeting & The Global Environment
Expectations are still rising over the results of the CBN 284th Monetary Policy Committee meeting which commenced today, Monday 21st March.
Also, with the ongoing events with Russia and Ukraine and how it has affected global markets, it is quite what the outcome of the MPC would be. However, with the Ukraine-Russia war leading to a hike in interest rates by the Federal Reserve Bank of the USA, experts project that the MPC should marginally increase the monetary policy rate.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency remained subdued across the board as cryptocurrency investors weigh the pros and cons of the U.S interest rate increase on the entire crypto space.
Bitcoin to Naira stood at N17.114 million at the time of publishing. Ethereum, which is the second most capitalised cryptocurrency also currently stands at N1.207 million.