The naira has gained more than 20 per cent in a major recovery that had seen the currency trading mostly positive in the past eight days.
After falling to a low of N1, 915 per dollar on February 21, this year amid intense speculations, a raft of tweaking of policies and enforcements by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cut the currency speculation and racketeering.
The naira started a recovery on February 22, amid optimism that ongoing policy initiatives by the apex bank and the overall macroeconomic outlook would further strengthen the national currency over the medium to long-term.
At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the naira opened this week positive, appreciating by 0.91 per cent to N1, 534 per dollar. It however depreciated yesterday by 4.45 per cent to N1,602.43 per dollar.
At the parallel market, the naira strengthened by 1.64 per cent to N1,623 per dollar, with the near convergence underlining increasing stability of the forex market.
The naira recovery came as the country’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves also continued to improve. Nigeria’s forex reserves increased by some $200.45 million to $33.72 billion at the weekend.
