Nigeria’s external reserves fall by $1.9 billion in three months

Naira falls to N420/$1 at I&E window despite moderations at parallel market

The exchange rate between the naira and the US dollar closed at N420.75/$1 at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

Naira recorded a 0.12% depreciation on Tuesday to close at N420.75/$1 compared to N420.25/$1 recorded in the previous trading session, representing its lowest level since 16th of May 2022. The fall in the local currency is despite the 129.7% surge in forex turnover to $113.12 million at the I&E window.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate remained stable at the parallel market, closing at N606 to a dollar on Tuesday, the same as recorded in the past two trading sessions. This is according to information from BDC operators in Nigeria.

The exchange rate at the P2P market moderated further on Wednesday, starting the day as low as N601/$1, compared to N602.5/$1 recorded as of the same time on Tuesday. This represents a 0.25% appreciation of the exchange rate.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves fell by 0.09% on Monday, 4th June 2022 to stand at $38.42 billion from $38.46 billion recorded the previous day. The nation’s external had been on a downturn since 25th April 2022 largely due to the continuous intervention by the Central Bank in the FX market in order to ensure the stability of the local currency.

Trading at the official NAFEX window

The exchange rate depreciated by 0.12% on Tuesday to close at N420.75/$1 from N420.25/$1 recorded on Monday.

  • The opening indicative rate closed at N420.1/$1 on Tuesday, 7th June 2022, the same as recorded on Monday.
  • Furthermore, an exchange rate of N444/$1 was the highest rate recorded during intra-day trading before it settled at N420.75/$1, while it sold for as low as N413/$1 during intra-day trading.
  • A total of $113.12 million in FX value was traded in the official I&E window on Tuesday, representing a 129.73% increase compared to $49.24 million traded in the previous trading session.

Crypto market update

  • Despite the recovery posted in the cryptocurrency market yesterday, the market resumed trading activities on Wednesday on a bearish note as the industry capitalization declined by 1.75% to stand at $1.22 trillion.
  • The most capitalized crypto asset, bitcoin also recorded a 2.69% decline to trade at $30,287.34, while Ethereum with a decline of 1.37% traded at $1,787.22 as of 5:20am (WAT).
  • Similarly, Solana recorded a 1.18% decline in price to trade at $38.835, Uniswap dipped 1.36% to trade at $5.146, while Luna on the other hand, gained 1.03% to trade at $0.00006466.