Fakoyejo Olalekan
The official market exchange rate between the dollar and the naira closed at N757.51/$1 on Tuesday, as the Nigerian currency appreciated by 2.22 per cent.
This indicates the price for the United States currency dropped by N17.27 kobo at the end of activities in the Investors’ and Exporters’ window, from the previous day’s N774.78/$1.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa gathered that during trading, the naira to dollar exchange rate sold as high as N799.90/$1, and as low as N700/$1.
Also, during the official trading session, investors and exporters transacted $45.98 million in foreign exchange. The same value of forex was traded the day before, according to data obtained from FMDQ Exchange.
In the black market, the average rate of the dollar was put at N886.74/$1, as the asking price of the USD increased by N13.1 kobo from N873.6/$1.
In a report released by Naira Rates, the black market aggregator, the naira also depreciated against the pound, falling to N1146.7/£1, against the previous day’s N1125.3/£1 rate.
Also, the price of the European currency, the euro, went up by N18.4 kobo during trading to sell at an average rate of N987.8/€1, inching higher from N969.4/€1.
Meanwhile, the ripple effect of the naira devaluation continues to spread across sectors, as Prime Business Africa reported that Seplat’s operating profit depreciated by 51.7 per cent or $126.90 million due to the naira devaluation and low oil prices in H1 2023.
Also, the revaluation of Seplat’s financial assets arising from this exchange rate resulted in a net (non-cash) loss of $33.8 million.
“During the period under review, our operating profit was $118.4 million, showing a significant decrease of 51.7% compared to the $245.3 million achieved in 6M 2022.
“This decline in operating profit was attributed to a combination of lower oil prices and foreign exchange (FX) losses due to changes in exchange rates,” Seplat stated in its H1 2023 financials.
