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Naira, Nigeria’s legal tender closed at N429.38 per dollar, the same rate it closed on the previous day at the official market.
Most currency dealers who participated at the FX auction on Tuesday maintained bids between N417.00 (low) and N444.00 (high) per dollar.
At the parallel market popularly called the black market, the local currency closed at N682 per dollar on Thursday, losing 0.29 percent compared to N680 per dollar closed on Wednesday.
Nigeria’s currency has been on a free fall, losing 20.42 percent in seven months, as it peaked at N710 per dollar from N565 at the beginning of the year at the parallel market.
“To fix Naira, we will need to implement policies that will make the country earn foreign exchange from the following: exports of goods and services, inflows of FX from foreign direct investment, inflows from portfolio investments, foreign remittances. Most of these will happen if we have a conducive environment that protects lives and property,” said Ayodele Akinwunmi, relationship manager, corporate banking at FSDH Merchant Bank Limited.
Read also: Naira fluctuation and matters arising
Nigeria’s external reserves, which gives the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the firepower to defend the naira, have lost 3.83 percent in the last seven months from $40.50 billion at the beginning of the year to $38.95 billion as of August 8, 2022, data from the CBN has indicated.
At the money market on Thursday, the Overnight (O/N) rate remained unchanged at 15.00 percent, while the Open Repo (OPR) rate increased by 0.33 percent to close at 15.00 percent compared to 14.67 percent on the previous day, according to a report FSDH Research.
The Nigerian treasury bills secondary market closed on a flat note on Thursday with the average yield across the curve closing flat at 8.23 percent.
Average yields across short-term, medium-term and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 9.47 percent, 7.09 percent, and 8.17 percent, respectively.
The report noted that the Open Market Operation (OMO) bills secondary market closed on a mildly negative note on Thursday, as the average yield across the curve cleared higher by 10 bps to close at 11.27 percent from 11.17 percent on the previous day. Average yield across the long-term maturities expanded by 12 bps. However, average yield across short-term maturities remained unchanged at 11.47 percent. OMO 2-May-23 (+37 bps) maturity bill witnessed selling pressure.
