Ahead of the Christmas day celebration, Nigeria’s Naira opened trading on a positive note against the dollar at both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets.
The naira recirsed a marginal increament from N1,541.7/$1 to N1,539.55/$1, according to data from Financial Markets Dealers Quotation.
On the parallel market, the naira closed at N1,650/$1 compared to N1,660/$1 it traded on the previous trading day.
The Naira’s value has shown a promising upward trend since the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS), which introduced new regulations for authorised Foreign Exchange (FX) dealers earlier this month.
To ease the ongoing strain on the official market, the CBN has granted Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators temporary access to the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).
This initiative, aimed at reinforcing the Naira’s position in the currency landscape, permits BDC operators to engage with the official market from 19th December 2024 until 30th January 2025, with a weekly limit of $25,000.
These transactions require upfront funding based on current rates, adhering to a maximum spread of 1 per cent. As Mrs Omolara Duke, CBN’s director of the financial markets department, explained, the EFEMS initiative seeks to promote “transparent, fair, and efficient FX trading, minimise counterparty risks, and ensure compliance with CBN regulations.”
Since the launch of the electronic trading platform on 2nd December up to 20th December 2024, the Naira has impressively gained over N250 against the Dollar in the official FX market, signalling a shift in the currency’s momentum.
