In a rather gloomy commencement to the week, the Nigerian Naira experienced a decline against the US Dollar at the official foreign exchange market window. As of Monday’s trading session, the Naira depreciated by 4.27%, changing hands at N774.78 compared to N743.07 at the close on August 4th, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The open indicative rate, a key metric for foreign exchange activities, concluded Monday at N771.64 to the Dollar. Intriguingly, the day’s trading activities witnessed substantial fluctuations. At one point, the spot exchange rate soared to a peak of N799 to the Dollar before retracing to settle at N774.78. Conversely, in the same trading session, the Naira was traded for as little as N475 to the Dollar.
Trade volumes for the day were robust, with a total of $45.98 million transacted at the official market window.
Commenting on this pronounced volatility, Muda Yusuf, the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, stressed the importance of regulatory intervention. Yusuf advocated for the Central Bank of Nigeria to enact an immediate and robust monetary policy that would stabilize the forex market and mitigate against such pronounced fluctuations in the future.
