Victor EzejaThe Nigerian naira experienced a significant depreciation on Thursday, 3 April, crashing to N1,569 per dollar at the official foreign exchange market.
This comes a day after the United States President, Donald Trump, increased the global trade tariff by 10 per cent.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira closed trading on Thursday at N1,569 per dollar against 1,534 on Wednesday, 2 April. This reflects N35 or 2.3 per cent loss.
Prime Business Africa reports that this is the highest depreciation against the dollar on a single day since 22 March, when the local currency’s value dropped by N18.96 weekly at the official market.
The incident comes despite the CBN’s declaration that the country’s Net Foreign Exchange Reserve (NFER) as of the end of 2024 was $23.11 billion, the highest level in more than three years.
However, the latest update by CBN on Nigeria’s gross external reserves shows that it fell by 0.3 per cent to $38.17 billion on 2 April 2025, down from $38.30 billion on 28 March 2025.
On the global trade tariff increase, Trump said the U.S. will implement what he called “reciprocal tariffs” on all countries, approximately half of what they charge his country.
Nigeria is among the countries slammed with reciprocal tariffs. According to the new tariff plan, Nigerian exports will be charged a 14 per cent tariff as against the 27 per cent charged by the Federal Government on imports from the U.S.
According to reports, Nigeria exported goods worth N931 billion to the United States in 2024, with crude oil forming the bulk of the goods. It, however, imported N1.05 trillion worth of goods from the U.S. in the same period.
Economic experts have expressed divergent views on the implications of the new tariff for Nigeria. While some said it has less effect on Nigeria because it doesn’t record much export to the U.S, others said it could have implications for the naira exchange rate.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
