Naira Depreciates Against Major Currencies At Interbank Market

The Naira depreciated against three currencies at the interbank market on Wednesday.

The local currency depreciated by 0.23 percent to 314 Naira 92 kobo to the Dollar, 3.13 percent to 422 Naira 64 kobo to the Pound and by 0.33 percent 352 Naira 46 kobo to the Euro.

At the parallel market, the Naira initially firmed by 0.47 percent to 423 against the Dollar, but dropped again to 425.

The currency also initially fell 0.56 percent to 540 against the British Pound, but dropped further to 543 and traded flat at 465 against the Euro.

Traders are optimistic that the Naira may appreciate this week, following the re-reinstatement of the eight banks previously banned by the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN) from the Forex market, and the licensing of 11 new international money transfer operators, to address the Dollar supply.

Meanwhile Nigeria’s import trade in the second quarter of 2016 rose by 38.1 per cent to ₦2.07 trillion, from ₦1.5 trillion in the preceding quarter as a result of a decline in Naira value, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, said.

The Bureau said in the latest edition of its foreign trade statistics on Tuesday that the total value of the country’s merchandise trade in the quarter jumped by about 49 per cent, from ₦2.65 trillion in the first quarter to ₦3.94 trillion.

The report said the rise in exports value by ₦725.6 billion, or 63.3 per cent was largely due to exchange rate gains, combined with about ₦570.8 billion, or 38.1 per cent, rise in import value in the preceding quarter.

“The current trade position brought the country’s negative trade balance to ₦196.5 billion during the period under review,” the report said. “This shows a ₦154.8 billion reduction in the country’s trade deficit over the previous quarter.”

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