Naira Weakens to N1,681/$1 at Official FX Market, Trades N1,711/$1 at Black Market

The Naira weakened further to N1,681 per Dollar on Monday, November 11, amid continued volatility in the official foreign exchange market, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX).

The local currency fell by N2.55 or 0.15 per cent to close at N1,681.42/$1 compared with Friday’s closing rate of N1,678.87/$1.

Equally, the Naira lost at the black market, losing N2.68 against the American currency to close at N1,711.27 to the US Dollar compared to N1,708.59/$1 it closed on Friday.

The daily supply of FX as measured by secondary data from FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited indicated that turnover slumped by $932.26 million or 66.4 per cent to $471.50 million from $1.4 billion.

The decline in supply comes even after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave the green light to banks operating in Nigeria to trade with tradeable foreign currencies deposited in dorm accounts.

According to the document released last week titled “Guidelines On Implementation Of The Foreign Currency Disclosure, Deposit, Repatriation, And Investment Scheme, 2024,” the apex banks said commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks may trade with any deposited ITFC (Internationally Tradable Foreign Currencies) not immediately invested by a participant, provided that the funds would be made available to the participant when needed.

Although this makes foreign currency available in circulation, the possibility of safety could keep customers from investing their currencies in banks, which would limit the utilisation of this directive.

However, the Naira strengthened its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N17.39 to sell at N2,143.04/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,160.43/£1.

It followed the same path against the Euro, appreciating N14.38 to quote at N1,782.23/€1 versus the last session’s rate of N1,796.61/€1.

In the parallel market, daily trading data showed that the local currency strengthened against the Euro and the Pound Sterling, but fell against the Canadian Dollar.

Against the Euro, the Naira quoted at N1,843.72/€1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,845.11/€1 as it added N1.39 and on the Pound, there was rise of N4.59 to wrap the opening session at N2,211.50/£1 from N2,216.09/£1.

Meanwhile, against the Canadian Dollar, it depreciated by N7.25 to close at N1,231.34 per Canadian Dollar, compared to N1,224.09 per CAD in the recent session.