Naira gains 9%, closes N837/$ at official market

The naira, on Monday, appreciated to N837.77 per dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM). 

NAFEM is the country’s official exchange rate window.

The rate represents a rise of 9.64 percent from N927.19/$ last Friday. 

Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign exchange (FX) trading in Nigeria, showed that the Nigerian currency hit an intra-day trading high of N1,021 and a low of N701.

FMDQ quoted an opening rate of N814.50 to the dollar on Monday and a closing rate of N837.77.  

At the parallel market, the naira traded for N1,170, against the dollar.

Currency traders, also known as Bureau De Change operators (BDCs), quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N1,160 and the selling price at N1,170 — leaving a profit margin of N10.

This leaves a gap of N332.23 between the official and parallel markets’ exchange rates.

President Bola Tinubu and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had taken steps to unify the exchange rates in the official window and the parallel market.

CBN collapsed the multiple exchange rates in the official market to NAFEM, formerly known as the investors and exporters window, to unify the parallel and official market rates.

This resulted in a temporary convergence, however, the gap has since widened, with Monday’s closing rate revealing an exchange rate difference of N332.23 between the official and parallel markets.

Yemi Cardoso, CBN governor, assured the apex bank is committed to achieving monetary and price stability in the country.