Naira appreciates to N1,340/$ at parallel market — strongest in two years

The Nigerian naira appreciated to N1,340 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday.

The value of the local currency rose by 1.12 percent — up from N1,355/$ traded on February 19.

The current exchange rate represents the naira’s strongest performance since April 2024 when the exchange rate hit the N1,300/$ region.

Starting the week on a positive note, the naira appreciated to N1,385 per dollar on February 16, N1,380/$ on February 17, and N1,365/$ on February 18.

At the official section of the FX market, the naira depreciated by 0.37 percent to N1,346.32 per dollar — from N1,341.35/$ on Thursday.

The local currency appreciated to N1,347.77 per dollar on February 16 and to N1,335.95 per dollar on February 17.

Reversing the two-day appreciation streak, the naira depreciated to N1,338.1 against the dollar on February 18.

The dollar rates in the black market and the Nigerian foreign exchange market (NFEM), also known as the official window, are near convergence again, as the gap shrank to N6.32 kobo.

They converged in February 2025.

On February 10, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the bank will do “whatever it takes” to safeguard the value of the naira, while strengthening the country’s external reserves.

Nigeria’s FX reserves rose to $48.5 billion on February 17, representing the highest in about 13 years.

On February 12, Femi Otedola, the chairman of First HoldCo, said he was optimistic that the naira will strengthen meaningfully and trade below N1,000/$ before year-end as domestic refining is fully underway.

Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote Group, also predicted that the naira will strengthen to N1,100 per dollar in 2026. (The Cable)