Naira Weakens to N1,395/$ in Parallel Market

Nigeria's Naira continued its downward trend, depreciating against the U.S. dollar in both the parallel and official foreign exchange markets. On the parallel market, the Naira weakened to N1,395 per dollar, a decline from N1,386 recorded last Friday. This marks a significant drop in the currency's value.

Similarly, in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), the Naira's indicative exchange rate rose to N1,385 per dollar, compared to N1,384 from the previous weekend. This movement signifies a N1 depreciation for the Naira in the official trading window. Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) underpins these figures.

The gap between the parallel market rate and the official exchange rate widened to N9 per dollar, an increase from the N2 margin observed last Friday. This growing disparity often reflects market pressures and confidence levels in the currency.

Despite the depreciation, the interbank turnover at the NFEM saw a substantial increase. The turnover rose by 80.3 percent to N223.9 million yesterday, up from N124.2 million last weekend, suggesting increased trading activity within the official market.