Naira depreciates at parallel market, official window

The naira further depreciated to N1,490 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday.

The current FX rate represents a 0.34 percent decline from the N1,485 traded on June 14.

Currency traders, also known as bureau de change (BDC) operators, quoted the buying rate at N1,460 and a selling rate of N1,490 — leaving a profit margin of N30.

At the official window, the local currency depreciated by 0.02 percent to N1,483.02 against the dollar on Monday, from N1,482.72 on June 14.

According to the FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees the official window, during trading hours, a dollar recorded an intra-day high of N1,514.82 and a low rate of N1,390.

The daily FX market turnover stood at $150.73 million.

At the current FX rates, the gap between the official window and the parallel market is N6.98.

On June 5  Fitch Ratings, a global rating agency, projected naira will end the year at N1,450 to a dollar.

Gaimin Nonyane, director of Middle-East and Africa sovereigns at Fitch Ratings, said despite the volatility experienced by the naira since its floating in June 2023, there are expectations that the fluctuation would reduce by the third quarter (Q3) of 2024.

Nonyane projected a gradual depreciation of the naira in 2025, adding that this depends largely on the FX reform’s momentum.