The naira has continued its free fall across the exchange markets as Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) remained depressed amidst dwindling crude oil production.
Post-trading data at the weekend showed that the naira during the week depreciated at both the official and parallel markets.
At the official Investors and Exporters (I & E) window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira depreciated by 29 basis points to N441.67 per dollar. At the parallel market, the naira fell faster by 700 basis points to N750.00 per dollar.
Nigeria’s external reserves had declined by 0.6 per cent to $37.7 billion, according to latest figured tracked at the weekend.
Analysts expected the naira and the nation’s forex reserves to remain under pressure as Nigeria struggles with poor oil production, surging inflation and backlog of unmet forex demand.
Data from Hanke’s Currency Watch List ranked naira as the 11th worst-performing currency against the dollar in the list of 19 worst-performing currencies in the world. Naira also ranked the fourth worst in Africa.
Data from Hanke’s Currency Watch List ranked naira as the 11th worst-performing currency against the dollar in the list of 19 worst-performing currencies in the world. Naira ranked the fourth worst in Africa, ahead of the Ghana Cedi which ranked 13th globally and third in Africa; according to the latest edition of Unity Bank Digest released at the weekend.
The data further revealed that the naira has lost 48.87 per cent of its value against the dollar as at September2, 2022 compared to its value in January 2020.
