Naira continues free fall as it trades for N1482.57/$

By Biola Adebayo On Jan 30, 2024

Naira , Dollar, parallel market,FMDQ, — Naira on steady recovery, gains further by 1.8% against dollar

Nigeria’s official currency, the naira continued its free fall on Tuesday on the official Investor and Exporter window of the foreign exchange market, closing at N1482.57 to a dollar.

This is a 9.93 percent decline from its N1348.63/$ Monday rate according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.

On the parallel market, it remained stable at N1,450/$, and on the cryptocurrency peer-to-peer market, the naira was trading for N1,439.5/$ on Binance’s P2P platform.

The naira has now fallen to a new all-time low on the official market and this can be linked to the technical devaluation of the national currency.

On Monday, FMDQ Securities Exchange, which calculates the exchange rate, revised the methodology used to set the rate.

According to some experts, this is a technical devaluation of the national currency.

In a market notice, FMDQ stated, “This revision aims to address recent fluctuations and challenges encountered in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (‘FX’) Market.”

It highlighted that its new measures will ensure that NAFEX and NAFEM rates accurately reflect market conditions. It explained, “These revisions are focused on enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the NAFEX and NAFEM rates determination process, with a focus on data availability and integrity involving a rigorous data validation process, including tolerance checks which shall be applied by FMDQ Exchange, subject to internal policies and procedures.”