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☆ Nigeria's naira firms on black market, central bank settles FX forwards
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The naira has hit successive record lows on the black market, where it trades freely, as excess demand on the official market gets funnelled to the unofficial market. The naira crossed the 1,000 naira mark on the black market on Sept. 26, the day newly-appointed central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso appeared before the Nigerian senate for his confirmation hearing. The central bank has not intervened on the official market since October, helping accelerate the naira's slide on the black market. The currency hit a record low of 1,300 naira per dollar on the black market, a month after it crossed the 1,000 naira mark, amid thin trading volumes on the parallel market and dollar shortages on the official market. On the official market, the naira was trading at 884.53 to the dollar at 1200 GMT.

Persons: Afolabi, firmed, Olayemi Cardoso, Cardoso, Wale Edun, Chijioke, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Finance, Thomson Locations: Rights ABUJA, Nigeria

☆ Nigerian naira hits record black market low -abokiFx
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ABUJA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria's naira hit a record low of 1,300 per dollar on the black market on Thursday, online platform abokiFX showed, driven by thin trading volumes on the parallel market and dollar shortages on the official market. The naira has been in free fall on the unofficial market, where it trades freely, after currency restrictions were lifted on the official market. Last month, the currency slid past 1,000 naira per dollar on the black market and has continued to weaken. On the official market, the naira recovered to 775 to the dollar from a record low of 999 it touched last week. It kept losing ground, however, on the black market due to thin trading.

Persons: naira, Yemi Cardoso, Wale Edun, Chijioke, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Finance, Thomson Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria

☆ Nigeria expects $10 bln in forex inflows in weeks - finance minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Chijioke Ohuocha | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABUJA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Nigeria expects $10 billion in foreign currency inflows in the next few weeks to ease liquidity in a foreign exchange market that has cramped growth in Africa's biggest economy, finance minister Wale Edun said on Monday. The West African country has faced chronic dollar shortages after foreign investors exited local assets during a period of low oil prices. Since then, investors are yet to return and the central bank has not yet settled outstanding demand for dollars from foreign investors seeking to repatriate funds or airlines seeking to send money from ticket sales abroad. Edun said President Bola Tinubu on Thursday signed two executive orders to allow domestic issuance of instruments in foreign currency and also allow all cash outside the banking system to be brought into the banks. He added that liquidity would also come from state-oil firm crude sales and foreign investment firms willing to invest in Nigeria.

Persons: Wale Edun, Edun, Bola Tinubu, Tinubu, Chijioke, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Bernadette Baum, Mark Potter Organizations: Thomson Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Africa's

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu is embarking on the country's biggest reforms in decades, including scrapping the popular but expensive petrol subsidy and unifying the country's multiple exchange rates. World Bank lead economist for Nigeria Alex Sienaert said during a presentation in the capital Abuja that savings from the reforms did not amount to a fiscal windfall. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund had for years called on Nigeria to remove the petrol subsidy, which cost $10 billion last year, and free its exchange rate. To deepen foreign exchange reforms, Siernaet said Nigeria should remove restrictions on a list of 43 items, including sugar and flour, that the central bank says cannot be funded from official dollar sales. Nigeria has the second-largest population of poor people in the world and is one of the least developed countries globally, the World Bank says.

Persons: Bola Tinubu, Nigeria Alex Sienaert, Sienaert, Siernaet, Wale Edun, Chijioke Ohuocha, Elisha Baba, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Christina Fincher, Susan Fenton Organizations: World Bank, Bank, International Monetary Fund, Labour, Thomson Locations: ABUJA, Nigeria, Nigerian, Abuja

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