Naira Depreciates To N827.83/$1 At Official Market

The naira again declined against the US dollar at the official market on Thursday, exchanging for N827.83 to one U.S dollar after a slight appreciation on Wednesday which saw the local currency exchanging at N818.99/$1.

This is still a slight gain when compared to the N850.22 it recorded on Tuesday.

However, the naira closed flat at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate closed at N1140/$1 as against the same N1140/$1 it quoted on Wednesday, representing 0.00 per cent, while peer-to-peer traders quoted around N1127.01/$1. 

The intraday high recorded was N1100/$1, while the intraday low was N751.00/$1, representing a wide spread of N348.78/$1.

Similarly, the naira also fell to the Euro, exchanging at N1,175/€1 at the parallel market, while it goes for N898.44/€1 at the official market. Also the pound sterling goes for N1,370 and N1029.7441 at the parallel and official market respectively.

According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading on Wednesday was $173.51 million, representing a 20.87 per cent increase compared to the previous day. 

The local currency struggle at the foreign exchange market is coming on the heels of rising inflation in the country which saw the inflation rate jump to 27.33 per cent in October 2023 as prices of foodstuff continued to increase in the aftermath of the removal of fuel subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration.

This was according to the October 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

The CPI, which measures the changes in the prices of goods and services, rose from 26.72 per cent to 27.33 per cent showing an increase of 0.61 per cent points.

“In October 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 27.33 per cent relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72 per cent,” the report partly read.

“Looking at the movement, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61 per cent points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.

“Furthermore, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09 per cent).

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in October 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (October 2022).”