Naira Firms to N1,609/$1 at Official Market, Falls to N1,625/$1 at Black Market

In the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the greenback during the trading day by N5 to sell for N1,625/$1, in contrast to the N1,620/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

However, in the official market, the domestic currency improved its value against its American counterpart by 0.1 per cent or 89 Kobo to trade at N1,609.57/$1 compared with the N1,610.46/$1 it was exchanged at midweek.

In the same spot market, the Naira tumbled against the Pound Sterling on Thursday by N7.75 to settle at N2,145.48/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N2,137.73/£1 and gained N3.35 against the Euro to close at N1,818.41/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,821.41/€1.

Sustained pressure on the country’s external reserves and a widening demand-supply gap in the FX market have weakened the Naira in the past few sessions.

However, there is evidence that debt repayments made from the external reserves have yielded outcome as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has removed Nigeria from its Total IMF Credit Outstanding list after repaying the $3.4 billion pandemic loan.

Nigeria was among the countries that relied on the IMF for funding support and it has repaid the loan, prompting the lender to remove its name from the debtors’ list.

The journey towards clearing this debt began in earnest in 2023, when the nation’s IMF debt stood at $1.61 billion, reaching $472 million by January 2025.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market soared yesterday in response to US President Donald Trump’s hyping up a trade deal with the United Kingdom, which offered the market some respite as it signaled reducing risk.

Bitcoin (BTC) was up by 4.3 per cent to $103,130.67, Ethereum (ETH) surged by 18.1 per cent to $2,249.11, Cardano (ADA) rose by 9.1 per cent to $0.7675, Dogecoin (DOGE) appreciated by 8.8 per cent to $0.1965, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 8.7 per cent to $163.25.

Further, Ripple (XRP) grew by 5.9 per cent to $2.30, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 4.3 per cent to $95.59, and Binance Coin (BNB) increased by 2.9 per cent to $628.48, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed lat at $1.00 each.