Naira appreciates to N1,419/$ at official market

The naira appreciated at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the country’s official window, on Monday.

Naira rose by 1.06 percent to close at N1,419.86 to a dollar — from N1,435/$ recorded at the close of trading last Friday.

According to data on FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, the naira was quoted as high as N1,526 per dollar and as low as N906 during the intra-day trading. 

The daily foreign exchange market turnover recorded during the trading day is valued at $440.13 million. 

Naira, however, fell to N1,450 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market, depreciating by N40 or 2.84 percent from the N1,410/$ traded on Thursday.

Currency traders, known as Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in Lagos, quoted the buying rate at N1,440 and the selling price at N1,450 — leaving a profit margin of N10. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the naira will stabilise as foreign investments enter the country.

Cardoso said as foreign investors’ confidence returns and “their money starts coming in, volatility begins to reduce. As the volatility reduces and the foreign exchange market stabilises, the naira, which is currently undervalued, will stabilise”.

The Apex bank governor also assured Nigerians that the time to panic over the economy is not now but of the past.