Naira recovers marginally to N1,498/$ at official market

The Nigerian naira, on Thursday, marginally recovered to N1,498.25 per dollar at the official window — the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

The rate represents an appreciation of 0.34 percent from the figure (N1503.34) recorded on Wednesday.

The local currency hit an intra-day trading high of N1,607 and a low of N1,100, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees foreign exchange (FX) trading in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, at the parallel section of the market, the local currency depreciated to N1,600 to the greenback — a 6.31 percent decline from the N1,505 traded on Monday.

Currency traders at the street market quoted the buying price of the dollar at N1,550 and the selling price at N1,600 — leaving a profit margin of N50.

With the current rate, the value of the naira at the parallel market still surpasses that of the official market by N101.75.

While the nation continues to feel the pain of the its devalued currency, President Bola Tinubu had asked Nigerians to let those tasked with overseeing the country’s FX market to manage it.

“If we have assigned someone a task, we must allow them to perform it. If they fail, then we must find a way to quickly remove them from the system,” he said.

On a similar note, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) placed limits on the transfer of proceeds from crude exports by international oil companies (IOCs) to offshore parent company accounts.

The move comes across as part of a series of policies executed recently to control the volatility in the FX market.