Naira trades flat on black market as dollar liquidity improves

The naira, Nigeria’s currency on Wednesday traded flat at N1,490 on the parallel market, popularly called the black market, following improved dollar liquidity in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

When compared to last week’s rate of N1,495, the naira recorded a marginal gain of 0.33 percent per dollar on the black market.

A total of $5.95 billion from the World Bank and Afreximbank entered into the Nigerian economy, helping to strengthen Nigeria’s external reserves and the naira.

At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the naira closed flat on Friday, gaining marginally by 0.06 percent as the dollar was quoted at N1,482.72 on Friday as against N1,483.62 closed on June 10, 2024, according to the data obtained from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

The dollar supply by willing buyers and willing sellers increased by 13.47 percent to $183.47 million on Friday, June 15, 2024 from $161.69 million as of June 10, 2024, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

Nigeria‘s foreign currency reserves have risen by 2.19 percent month-on-month, following streams of dollar inflows from international financial institutions.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that external reserves grew to $33.159 billion as of June 11, 2024 from $32.447 billion in May 10, 2024.