The value of the Nigerian Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar in the black market segments of the currency market on Thursday by N15, closing at N1,405/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,390/$1.
Information gathered by Business Post showed that the domestic currency was under pressure yesterday as a result of a renewed spike in the demand for the American currency as political activities gear up for next year’s general elections.
Also, at the GTBank forex counter, the local currency weakened against the greenback during the session by N13 to trade at N1,398/$1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,385/$1.
Similarly, the Naira lost 36 Kobo or 0.03 per cent against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Thursday to finish at N1,387.45/$1 versus the N1,387.09/$1 it was transacted at midweek.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window by N2.72 to N1,852.38/£1 from N1,855.10/£1 and gained N5.41 on the Euro to settle at N1,609.86/€1 versus N1,615.27/€1.
The successive depreciation of the Naira suggests foreign payments continue to grow faster than total US Dollar volume.
This may trigger intervention from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Nigeria is projected to be one of the beneficiaries of the current oil price windfall, following Brent crude trading above $85 per barrel, according to experts.
As for the cryptocurrency market, assets were in negative territory ahead of the key jobs report for February in the US, as traders rapidly cut bets on any more Federal Reserve rate cuts in the first half of 2026.
Some analysts noted that the US central bank will keep rates steady not only at this month’s meeting but in April as well.
Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 5.4 per cent to $0.0928, Ethereum (ETH) dipped by 2.5 per cent to $2,080.46, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 2.4 per cent to $89.12, Cardano (ADA) also slumped 2.4 per cent to $0.2692, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 2.1 per cent to sell for $71,229.83.
Further, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 1.9 per cent to close at $55.64, Ripple (XRP) shrank by 1.7 per cent to sell at $1.40, and Binance Coin (BNB) slipped 1.3 per cent to $648.77, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.