In the just concluded week, Naira appreciated against the USD at the Bureau De Change market and the parallel (‘black’) market by 1.48% and 1.46% to close at N467.00/USD and N473.00/USD.
However, Naira depreciated at the Investors and Exporters window as the exchange rate rose by 2.15% to settle at N404.67/USD despite the sustained increase in crude oil prices.
Meanwhile, NGN/USD exchange rate closed flat at N380.69/USD at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market amid weekly injections of USD210 million by CBN into the forex market: USD100 million was allocated to Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), USD55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and USD55 million was sold for Invisibles.
Elsewhere, the Naira/USD exchange rate appreciated for most of the foreign exchange forward contracts: 2 months, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months rates fell by 0.06%, 0.25%, 0.49% and 0.83% respectively to close at N411.65/USD, N415.12/USD, N425.19/USD and N441.93/USD.
However, the 1-month rate rose by 0.55% to close at N407.85/USD while the spot rate remained flattish at N379.00/USD.
In the new week, we expect Naira/USD to stabilize at the I&E FX Window as the price of Nigeria’s crude oil grade Bonny light is expected to remain relatively high amid reports that OPEC+ maintained its production cut.
