Naira flat as FX market sees marginal drop in dollar supply

…Diaspora Remittances surge 433% in February- CBN

The naira closed flat at the official foreign exchange (FX) market as dollar supply dropped marginally on Thursday.

After trading on Thursday, the naira marginally gained 0.22 percent as a dollar sold for N1,602.17 as against N1,605.72 quoted on Wednesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), data from the FMDQ indicated.

The daily FX market turnover declined by 2.99 percent to $164.76 million on Thursday from $168.98 million recorded on Wednesday.

At the parallel market, also known as the black market, the naira steadied at N1,620 per dollar. Some street traders sold the dollar at N1,590 and N1,610/$1 in some areas.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced a remarkable upswing in Diaspora remittances, soaring by 433 percent to reach $1.3 billion in February, compared to $300 million in January.

Revealing this development during a press briefing in Abuja, Hakama Sidi Ali, acting director of corporate communications at CBN, emphasized the significant surge in overseas remittances, surpassing fourfold the figures from the previous month.

She highlighted that foreign investors exhibited keen interest in Nigerian assets, with investments exceeding $1 billion in February alone. Moreover, total portfolio flows for 2024 have reached $2.3 billion, indicating a promising trajectory compared to the $3.9 billion recorded for the entirety of the previous year.

Furthermore, Ali indicated that the momentum of higher foreign exchange inflows persisted into March 2024, attributed to heightened investor appetite for short-term sovereign debt following adjustments to benchmark interest rates.

Notably, government securities issuances witnessed substantial oversubscription, with foreign investors dominating bids, accounting for over 75 percent of the total bids received during auctions conducted on March 1 and 6, 2024

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.