On Monday, the naira appreciated in the official window following the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, assuring the public that the central bank was working to address the currency's volatility.
Based on information from the FMDQ, the local currency increased by 1.09 percent to settle at 1,419.86/$ at the official forex window.
On Friday, the dollar was traded for 1,435.53/$.
Remember that on Tuesday, at the official window, the naira fell sharply to an all-time low of 1482.57 /$, defying efforts by the Federal Government and the Apex Bank to increase liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
But after the CBN made a number of policy announcements, the local currency recovered.
According to Bureau de Change operators, the naira did not fair better in the parallel market, where it was trading at the close of business on Monday between 1,440/$ and 1,460.
The alternative forex market finished trade on Friday with the naira at 1,450/$.
The PUNCH was informed by Mr. Abubakar Abdusallam, a BDC operator at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja, that hoarders' actions were the reason why the dollar was steadily strengthening against the naira.
He stated, "We are buying at 1,445/$ and selling dollars at 1455/$ today."
"Today, we traded dollars at the rate of N1,440 and that is the best I can do," said Surajo Sani, another BDC operator.
Ibrahim provided the highest rate of return, stating that he sold the dollar for 1,460.
"Today, the dollar reached 1,460. However, he emphasized that the same individuals continue to buy and hoard.
Cardoso had earlier on Monday stated that the central bank had worked very hard to eliminate all of the obstacles impeding the flow of foreign exchange into the nation.
The difficulties with remittance flows have been resolved, banks' capacity to hold onto positions has been curtailed, and—above all—the export earnings from the country's energy sector are now passing through the central bank. In order to entice international investors to naira assets, we have also started a variety of short-term initiatives.
"Our ability to address the fundamental issues affecting our economy, control inflation, and foster the growth of Nigerian businesses so that we eventually export much more than we consume as a nation will determine the eventual stability of the naira."
He went on to say that the apex bank has settled verified FX demands totaling $2.3 billion, and that the remaining FX requirement, N2.2 billion, will be fulfilled very soon.
Of the $7 billion backlog that existed when Cardoso took office, he revealed that $2.4 billion of it was disputed.
"We found that about $2.4 billion of the approximately $7 billion had issues," he stated. They had no business being there, in our opinion. The offenses covered a wide range of topics.
Examples include not having legitimate import documentation, occasionally requesting foreign exchange but receiving more than requested, and occasionally receiving money from businesses that did not exist. There were numerous violations present.
Nigeria was downgraded from a "frontier" to a "unclassified" market by FTSE Russell, a division of the London Stock Exchange Group that provides market benchmarks and analytics, in September 2023 due to the challenges faced by international investors while repatriating their capital.
In November 2023, the central bank started to clear the FX backlog in banks.
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