Naira falls to N1,665 on black market

… loses 5.5% on official market

The naira on Friday fell to an average rate of N1,665 per dollar on the parallel market, commonly referred to as the black market.

This represents a loss of N5 compared to N1,660 traded since Monday. In Abuja and Onitsha, one dollar was sold for N1,670.

The naira depreciation was attributed to strong demand by end users for Basic Travel Allowances (BTA), Personal Travel Allowances (PTA), school fees and medical.

“We are buying dollars for N1,650 and selling at N1,670,” a trader said on Friday.

At the official FX market, the local currency lost 5.5 percent on Thursday as the dollar was quoted at N1,649.76 as against N1,558.75 quoted on Wednesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited showed.

Read also: Naira falls nearly 6%, steepest daily fall since May 30

The naira on Wednesday recorded 5.06 percent gain on the official foreign exchange (FX) market following an increase in dollar supply to $221.24 million in one trading day.

Nigeria’s external reserves, also known as foreign currency reserves, jumped by $490 million in one week following the successful issuance of domestic dollar bonds by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the external reserves grew to $36.73 billion as of September 10, 2024, from $36.24 billion recorded on September 2, 2024.

On August 19, 2024, the Nigerian Government issued $500 million, the first series of the $2 billion domestic US dollar bond to investors, to stabilise the economy.