On Monday, the Nigerian Naira recorded a new all-time low against the US dollar, closing at N1,348.63 per dollar on the official market, also known as NAFEM.
Gatekeepers News reports that the observed depreciation represents a 33.87% or N456.73 decline compared to N891.90 recorded at the close of trading on Friday.
This is the lowest point in the historical performance of the Naira, reflecting the severity of the current economic challenges.
This marks the sixth time the Naira has crossed the N1,000/$ threshold in the official market, indicating a persistent trend of weakness. The first instance occurred on Friday, December 8th, 2023, when the currency reached a historical low of N1,099.05 per dollar. This was followed by a second depreciation on Thursday, December 28th, 2023, closing at N1,043.09 per dollar.
The intraday high recorded was N1414.94/$1, while the intraday low was N701/$1, representing a wide spread of N713.94/$1. At the close of trading, forex turnover was $64.29 million, representing a 36.33% increase compared to the previous day.
However, the naira depreciated in the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, with an exchange rate of N1,450/$1, representing a 2.76% decline, while peer-to-peer traders quoted around N1,466.20/$1.
This occurred despite the news of an additional release of $500 million to various sectors by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to address the backlog of verified foreign exchange transactions.
This development could also have significant implications for businesses of all sizes, with potential increases in production costs and challenges in maintaining profitability.
