Nigeria’s currency on Wednesday gained N1.00k on the black market as the dollar was sold at N473 as against N474 sold on Tuesday.

The naira appreciation was attributed to low demand by end users amid dollar shortages. However naira was stable at N474 and N381 at the retail bureau and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official window respectively.

The Apex bank on March 26, suspended foreign exchange sales to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, until further notice, due to the Covid-19 lockdown as requested by the operators. The suspension notwithstanding, some BDCs are still active in the market.

The CBN said on April 29, 2020 that it has made complete arrangements to resume foreign exchange sales to the BDC segment of the market for business travels, personal travels, and other designated retail uses, as soon as international flights resume.

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At the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window, naira signalled appreciation as the market opened with an indicative rate of N387.79k on Wednesday. This represents N0.67k gain when compared with N388.46k opened with on Tuesday, data from FMDQ showed.

Analysts at the FSDH research noted that in the I&E FX window, the dollar supply remained weak, with a very low volume passing through the market due to the tightened system liquidity. Naira weakened by 0.26 percent as the dollar was quoted at N389.00 on Tuesday compared to N388.00 on the previous day. Most participants maintained bids between N380.00 and N390.00 per dollar.

The foreign exchange daily turnover at the I&E window rose by 43.12 percent to $24.66 million on Tuesday from $17.23 million recorded on Monday.

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.

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