New Exchange Rate As Naira Records First Loss in a While Against US Dollar in Official Market

• The Nigerian currency, the naira, has dropped in value against the US dollar in the foreign exchange market
• Checks showed that the naira depreciated in the official market and but improved in the unofficial market
• The deprecation of the naira follows concerns that Nigeria's foreign reserves have depleted to the lowest level since 2017

Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of business journalism experience and in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.

Naira depreciated in the official market as concerns grow about the depletion of the country's foreign exchange (FX) reserves amid weak crude oil revenue.

Data from FMDQ securities shows that Nigerian currency weakened in value in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to N1,148.14/$1 on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

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This represents a 1.07% or N12.10 depreciation compared to the previous day's closing rate of N1,136.04/$1.

It is the same story for the naira against the pound sterling in the official market.

Data shows naira lost N28.80 to close at N1,446.45/£1, compared with Monday's value of N1,417.65/£1.

While against the Euro, it lost N22.87 to settle at N1,234.79/€1 compared to the previous day's exchange rate of N1,211.92/€1.

Nigeria's foreign reserves deplete

Legit.ng had earlier reported that the country's FX reserves have witnessed a significant downturn in the last 29 days following a series of interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Data shows that the CBN has removed about $2.16 billion to stabilise the naira. As of April 15, 2024, data from the apex bank revealed that the external reserves were now positioned at $32.29 billion.

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CBN crashes dollar, sells ‘cheap’ to BDCs, sets new exchange rate for Nigerians

Naira to dollar at unofficial market

However, the story for the naira is different in the parallel market, also known as the black market.

Checks showed that the naira improved its value on Tuesday by N15 to sell at N1,100/$1 versus the preceding session's N1,115/$1.

UK firms predict exchange rate in 2024

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that two UK-based financial institutions predicted a new exchange rate for the naira against the dollar

Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered opined the naira would rebound and close stronger in 2024.

Their predictions were based on the current reforms by the Cardoso-led CBN.

Source: Legit.ng