The Naira halted its recent depreciations against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, April 22.
According to data, the domestic currency chalked up 0.17 per cent or N2.29 against the greenback at midweek to exchange for N1,348.45/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,350.74/$1 despite concerns over liquidity pressures, policy transparency, and confidence in Nigeria’s FX market, especially as the country’s foreign reserves are expected to decline further amid fluctuations in crude oil prices in the global commodity market.
However, the Naira appreciated against the Pound Sterling yesterday in the official market by N4.72 to trade at N1,821.75/£1 versus Tuesday’s price of N1,826.47/£1, and gained N7.42 against the Euro to sell at N1,582.00/€1 versus N1,589.12/€1.
The Nigerian currency maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market during the session at N1,375/$1, but depreciated by N9 at the GTBank forex counter to N1,363/$1 from N1,354/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a decline in interbank liquidity to N66.084 million across 87 deals from N91.866 million across 106 deals the previous day, a signal that FX payment requests eased on Wednesday.
Traders say weak fiscal discipline and budget overlaps are key drivers of pressure on the Naira in the black market. They raised worries, including excessive spending, delayed budgets, and the running of overlapping budget cycles.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin briefly touched $79,388 the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday before easing back to about $78,201.31.
The rally’s concentration in BTC, alongside negative funding rates that have persisted for roughly 47 days, suggests a narrow, derivatives-sceptical bid rather than broad-based enthusiasm across digital assets.
Geopolitical tensions, including a U.S. naval blockade near Iran, Iranian gunboat fire in the Strait and stalled cease-fire diplomacy, are feeding market uncertainty, with Cardano (ADA) down by 3.2 per cent to $0.2474.
Further, Solana (SOL) fell by 2.5 per cent to $85.97, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 2.3 per cent to $1.42, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 1.7 per cent to $2,352.18, TRON (TRX) slid by 1.4 per cent to $0.3281, Dogecoin (DOGE) tumbled by 1.1 per cent to $0.0961, and Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 0.8 per cent to sell for $637.46, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.