By John Ikani
The Nigerian naira has gained significant strength against the US dollar in the black market due to an influx of dollars into the market.
The local unit appreciated to 735 naira per dollar on Friday from 742 naira per dollar on Tuesday.
Heritage Times HT gathered that the supply of dollars has increased as people are selling the dollars they had acquired from politicians who spent in dollars during the elections, but are now in need of naira.
However, the official naira rate is projected to fall to N500 per dollar by the end of 2023, as Nigeria’s external reserves are expected to decline from $37.21 billion to $34.9 billion, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
Furthermore, the decline in official forex reserves is expected to be driven by the CBN’s intervention in the forex market and the shortage in forex inflow at the end of 2023.
In 2022, the country’s external reserves declined by 8.2 percent to $37.1 billion from $40.5 billion at the start of the year.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s daily forex market turnover increased by 54.16 percent to $131.33 million on Thursday from $85.19 million on Wednesday, with the dollar being quoted at N462.83/$1 at the Investors and Exporters forex window.
At the money market segment on Thursday, the overnight rate remained unchanged at 19.00 percent, while the open repo rate increased by 0.04 percent to close at 18.67 percent compared to 18.63 percent on the previous day, according to a report by FSDH research.
The Nigeria Treasury bill secondary market also closed on a flat note on Thursday, with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 8.08 percent.
