Naira Ends Week With Massive Appreciation At Official, Black Markets

The Nigerian naira ended the week with a massive appreciation at both the official and parallel markets.

At the official market, the naira exchanged N1,535 per dollar on Friday, 6th December against N1,567 per dollar on Thursday at the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data. This reflects N32 gain against the dollar.

The CBN data showed that the naira had the highest and lowest exchange rates between N1,575.00 and N1,510.00  on Friday.

At the parallel market, also known as the black market, the naira strengthened to N1,570 per dollar on Friday from N1710 exchanged on Thursday.

Analysts attribute the appreciation of the naira in both the black and official markets to the recent FX policy released by the CBN.

Prime Business Africa recalls that the CBN had towards the end of November, announced new FX policy guidelines which required authorised dealer banks to transition to the Bloomberg BMatch system for FX trading. The new FX trading system which took effect from 2nd December 2024, is an automated trade-matching system aimed at ensuring transparency and efficiency in Nigeria’s FX market.

The CBN released comprehensive guidelines last week for the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) interbank FX trading system, with the goal of further streamlining operations. The guidelines established a minimum tradable amount of $100,000 with incremental clip sizes of $50,000 to promote greater efficiency and transparency in the FX market.

Before the platform went live on Monday, the naira had recorded a low of N1,760 at the black market. At the official market, it ended with a closing rate of N1,672.69/$ on Friday, 29th November being the last trading day of the month. This means it has gained 8.97 per cent, or N137.69 at the official market when compared with N1,535 as recorded on the Bloomberg BMatch system on Friday, 6th December.