Naira weakens to 1,523/$ at official market

On Monday, the naira lost value on the official and black markets.

The naira depreciated from its previous closing of 1,509.67 to the US dollar at the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, reaching 1,523.85 per dollar.

Forex trades can be executed at exchange rates set by the state of the market through the NAFEM market trading segment, which caters to investors, exporters, and end users.

With respect to the dollar, the naira reached a high of 1,540.75 and a low of 1,474.05 during the day. The market's liquidity was strengthened as the turnover increased to $133.46 million from $116.88 million on Friday.
Findings on the parallel market showed that the naira lost 0.33 percent of its value against the dollar, closing the day at 1,528 per dollar as opposed to 1,523 on Friday.
Due to a decrease in speculative activity, the foreign exchange market saw relief for the naira last week, which strengthened the currency against the US dollar across all market segments.

By the end of 2024's first half, the naira was the world's worst-performing currency.

Depreciation, a lack of dollar liquidity, and market volatility have impeded the Central Bank of Nigeria's attempts to fortify the currency, according to a Bloomberg story published on Friday.

Other than the naira, the world's poorest performing currencies in the first half of the year were the pound in Egypt and the cedi in Ghana.

The Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals Company, meantime, has been praised by S&P Global, an international financial analytics firm, for its ability to resolve Nigeria's foreign exchange problem and ease pressure on the local currency while fostering economic growth.