Nigeria’s naira has appreciated further as it exchanged for N1,382 per dollar on Thursday.
As quoted by the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, the naira increased by N154.48 compared To N1,536.83 on the previous day. The first time in a long while that the local currency would record such a massive gain.
This was coming 24 hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced it had cleared $7bn valid foreign exchange claims while increasing the country’s forex reserves.
CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali, announced this in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement partly reads, “The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that all valid foreign exchange backlogs have now been settled, fulfilling a key pledge of the CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, to process an inherited backlog of $7bn in claims.
“Clearance of the foreign exchange transactions backlog is part of the overall strategy detailed in last month’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting to stabilise the exchange rate and thereby curb imported inflation, spurring confidence in the banking system and the economy.
Apart from the massive gain recorded at the official market, the local currency also stabilised yesterday at the parallel market exchanging at N1,500 to a dollar, according to checks by our correspondents in Lagos, Abuja and Kano.
In Lagos, the dollar was traded at N1,500 to N1,520 yesterday with the operators confirming relative stability in the market.
A BDC operator, Haruna Agege, in a chat with our correspondent yesterday said the local currency is expected to appreciate against the dollars in days to come.
“So if you have dollars at home, it is advisable to bring it out,” he said.
In Abuja, a cross section of Bureau de Change operators in Wuse who spoke to Daily Trust stated that the dollar has been falling against the Naira since the beginning of the week.
Gidado Muktar, a BDC operator said, “We have been seeing a lot of changes since Monday when the week started. I can tell you that when we started the week, the dollar was N1,700 to a dollar. By Tuesday it dropped to N1,600 and as we speak today Thursday it is fluctuating between N1,480 to N1,500/$,” he said
Mukhtar added that he is happy that the Naira is appreciating which vindicates his colleagues that were accused of speculation.
In Kano, Alhaji Yusuf Kura, a BDC operator said operators buy dollar at the rate of N1490 and sell to prospective customers at the rate N1500 . Previously it traded at N1,520, he said.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has cautioned currency traders speculating on foreign exchange to sell their dollar holdings, stating that the naira is expected to increase in value soon.
He advised speculators to sell off their dollars to prevent potential losses swiftly.
Onanuga said, “With backlog FX settled, Naira is set to appreciate further, faster. Currency speculators should quickly dump their stock of dollars to avoid sorrows and tears
