FX market resumes after holiday with naira stable on black market

The foreign exchange market resumed activity on Monday morning after the two-day holiday, with Nigeria’s currency stable at N474 per dollar.

Dollar was trading as high as N475 in some parts of Lagos where the black market operators are operating.

The market has witnessed dollar shortages since early this year as a result of low prices of oil, which accounts for about 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings, and low inflows from remittances due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, the market signalled appreciation in the value of naira with an indicative rate of N388.33k compared to N388.61k opened with on Wednesday before the holiday.

Last week, the I&E FX window observed lower volume passing through the market due to tightened system liquidity. Naira appreciated by 0.06 percent as the dollar was quoted at N389.25 as compared to N389.50 on the previous day.

Analysts at FSDH Research noted that most participants maintained bids between N380.00 and N391.50 per dollar.

The local currency was also stable at the retail Bureau with the dollar trading at N475, the same rate since last week Tuesday.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.