The Naira made a huge recovery last week after hitting its highest point in history. The currency which was listed as N900/$1 prior to last week fell to N680/$1.
Within just five days the Naira fell by N200 to the dollar, as of the close of trading activities on Friday, 11th November 2022.
The exchange rate was investigated by Nairamterics, a leading financial information, and content-creation company based in Lagos Nigeria. The information on the exchange rate was disclosed by several black market traders, all of whom relayed how much the Naira had fallen.
The traders were interviewed, and they cited eased demand and increased inflows of forex in the market, as reasons why the Naira fell by 28% in just one week.
Mr. Sulaimon a trader in Lagos said, “the changes in the rate are really very sudden, but it is as a result of increased dollars in the market compared to the high demand in the previous week.”
Recently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in Nigeria, reportedly raided a Bureau De Change trading hub in the North Central part of the country and arrested some operators in the market over the declining value of the naira against the US dollar.
This, combined with speculations that the United States will restrict the acceptance of dollars printed below 2021, to checkmate the dollar stockpile in Africa, could be major reasons why the demand for the dollar has been eased in Nigeria.
During this same period in 2021, the exchange rate appreciated from about N577/$1 in early October to about N535/$1 by mid-November, and if this is any indication, it could mean that the year would end somewhere between N900/$1 and N680/$1, as last year, Nigeria’s exchange rate stood at N560/$1.
-Businessinsider
