On Monday the value of the Nigerian Naira strengthened against the U.S dollar at the Investors & Exporters Window (I & E Window).
Naira appreciated by N1.00 to close at N386.00 per dollar according to the data from FMDQ. This represents a 0.26% increase in value compared to its closing rate of N387.00 per dollar on Friday.
This rise in value at the close of trading counters the drop seen in Monday’s indicative opening rate of N387.46 per dollar, a N1.33 decline compared to the indicative opening rate of N386.13 per dollar on Friday.
The appreciation of the naira at the I & E Window comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday announced a ban on Forex for Maize/Corn import into the country.
The apex bank stated that the new measure is part of efforts by the central bank to increase local production, stimulate a rapid economic recovery, safeguard rural livelihoods and increase jobs, which were lost as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
High and low exchange rates of the naira at the I & E Window on Monday were N391.49 and N365 per dollar respectively.
The daily turnover increased by 30.62% at the I & E Window to $36.28 million on Monday from $25.17 million recorded on Friday.
The CBN official rate for the naira stood at N381.00 per dollar at FMDQ. However, the official rate quoted on the CBN website remains at N360.00 per dollar.
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At the Parallel Market, the value of the Naira remained unchanged at N465.00 per dollar on Monday, same rate it was exchanged on Friday according to abokiFX.
The value of naira appeared to have stabilized at the popularly known black market, after two consecutive days of decline that saw its value drop by N4.00 against the dollar.
Naira exchange rate also remained unchanged against the British pounds at N565 per GBP at the parallel market.
Due to Nigeria’s high dependency on oil revenue, naira has been under immense pressure since the slump in oil prices due to low demand as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The prices of oil has however recovered due to supply cuts agreed by OPEC and improving demand, however it is still below the pre-pandemic levels. Brent crude is trading at $42.16 per barrel at the time of this report.
In it’s effort to avert a free fall in the value of Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in March “technically devalued Naira” and also maintained it’s forex intervention in the foreign exchange market.
The technical devaluation saw the I & E Window rate move from N360/$1 to N380.2/$1 while the official exchange rate moved from N306/$1 to N360/$1.
The central bank last month said it will work towards the gradual unification of exchange rates across all forex windows.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
