Naira pressure resumes as dollar trades at 1,525 on black market

The naira on Wednesday witnessed some pressure across the foreign exchange (FX) market following an increase in demand for the dollar by the end users.

After trading on Wednesday at the parallel market, also known as black market, the naira closed at N1,525 per dollar, losing 2.6 percent or N40 compared to N1,485/$, the strongest level on February 25, 2025.

Compared to the previous rate, the naira lost N15 or 0.98 percent from N1,510 per dollar on Tuesday in the black market.

At the official FX market, the naira depreciated as the dollar was quoted at N1,500.80 on Wednesday, marking 0.6 percent or N9.13 loss, as against the previous close of N1,491.67, on the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, indicated.

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Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), showed that the naira also depreciated slightly to N1,505 per dollar on Wednesday compared to N1,502 on Tuesday, at the NFEM.

Authorised currency dealers quoted the dollar at the highest rate of N1,505 on Wednesday from N1,503 quoted on Tuesday. The market recorded the lowest rate of N1,497.10 on the same day as against N1,490 on the previous day.

Some traders who spoke with BusinessDay on Wednesday, could not say exactly why the pressure resurfaced but said there was a slight increase in the demand for the dollar.