Naira on Tuesday fell to a record low of N1,310 per dollar following strong demand on the parallel market, also known as the black market.

This represents 6.07 percent (N75) weaker than N1,235 recorded at the close of trading on Monday.

Naira on Tuesday lost 6.86 percent after strengthening against the dollar by 1.85 percent on Monday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

Wale Edun, the finance minister said Monday that Nigeria expects as much as $10 billion in new foreign currency inflows in the next few weeks to ease acute dollar shortages in the foreign exchange market.

After trading on Tuesday at the NAFEM, one dollar was quoted at N847.77 per dollar, weaker than N793.34 on Monday and N808.27 quoted on Friday, data from the FMDQ showed.

Read also Naira now exchanges with dollar at N1,235

Willing buyers and willing sellers offered and sold at a bid rate of N900/$ high and N700/$ low. The daily FX market turnover increased by 8.03 percent to $88.10 million on Tuesday from $81.55 million recorded on Monday and $79.26 million recorded on Friday at the official market.

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Analysts said that Nigeria’s currency will stabilise in the short term if the expected $10 billion flows through the economy.

Foreign exchange reserves have risen by 0.18 percent in the last one week to $33.28 billion as of October 23, 2023 compared to $33.22 billion on October 13, 2023, data from the CBN website indicated.

At the money market on Tuesday, the Nigeria treasury bills (NT-Bills) secondary market closed on a flat note with the average yield across the curve remaining unchanged at 6.36 percent, according to a report by the FSDH. Average yields across short-term, medium-term, and long-term maturities remained unchanged at 3.26 percent, 4.91 percent, and 8.76 percent, respectively.

The CBN is scheduled to conduct a Primary Market Auction on Wednesday, to roll over NT-bills maturities worth N108.13 billion across 91-day (N2.85 billion), 182-day (N7.95 billion), and 364-day (N97.33 billion) tenors.

The Open Market Operation (OMO) bills market closed on a mildly positive note on Tuesday, as the average yield across the curve cleared lower by 1 basis point to close at 12.04 percent from 12.05 percent on the previous day.

The average yield across the long-term maturities declined by 1 basis point. OMO bill for August 6, 2024 (-1 basis point) maturity bill witnessed mild buying interest, the report noted.

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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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