Naira falls to 1,523 to the dollar amid fuel crisis, escalating food shortage
The naira depreciated at both the official and parallel markets on Monday, amid skyrocketing food inflation and fuel crisis.
Fuel queues returned to the filling stations accros the country, just as food shortage continued to escalate.
At the official Nigeria’s autonomous foreign exchange market, the naira plummeted to 1,523.85 per dollar, depreciating from the previous 1,509.67 to the dollar.
NAFEM is the market trading segment for Investors, Exporters, and End-users that allows for forex trades to be made at exchange rates determined by prevailing market conditions.
At the intra-day trading, the naira exchanged at 1,540.75 to a low of 1,474.05 to a dollar. Turnover stood at $133.46m higher than $116.88m on Friday, indicating improved liquidity in the market.
The naira returned to depreciating ways on Monday at parallel market, losing its values by 0.33 per cent and closing the day at 1,528 per dollar compared to 1,523 per dollar on Friday.
At the end of the first half of 2024, the naira emerged as the worst-performing currency in the world.
According to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, depreciation, insufficient dollar liquidity, and market volatility have hindered efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria to strengthen the currency.
In effect, the naira failed sustain last week rebound following increased speculative and volatile market activities across market segments.