Naira Stable at N1,544/$1 at Official Market, N1,660/$1 at Parallel Market

The value of the local currency marginally depreciated against the greenback yesterday by 15 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to sell at N1,544.20/$1 at the official market, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1,544.05/$1.

In the same vein, the Nigerian currency lost N7.44 against the Pound Sterling in the spot market during the trading day to sell for N1,954.07/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N1,946.63/£1 and against the Euro, it depreciated by N3.16 to trade at N1,614.89/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,611.73/€1.

The country’s exchange rate seems to be stable at the moment as a result of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) designed to ensure transparency in the FX market.

On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu presented the 2025 budget to the National Assembly, with an exchange rate projection of N1,500/$1.

The budget projects that inflation will decline from the current rate of 34.6 per cent to 15 per cent next year, while the exchange rate will improve from approximately N1,700 per Dollar to N1,500/$1. The base crude oil production assumption is set at 2.06 million barrels per day.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the Dollar at midweek at N1,660/$1.

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, profit-taking continued as the US Federal Reserve hinted at a few rate cuts in 2025.

US Federal Reserve chairman, Mr Jerome Powell said at a press conference after the meeting that the central bank wasn’t allowed to own Bitcoin under current regulations — in response to a question about President-elect Donald Trump’s strategic reserve promises.

Litecoin (LTC) fell by 8.4 per cent to $108.31, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.1 per cent to $2.36, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 5.5 per cent to sell at $0.3618, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 3.9 per cent to $0.9812, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 3.8 per cent to $3,680.00, Bitcoin (BTC) weakened by 2.5 per cent to $101,166.28, Solana (SOL) dropped 2.3 per cent to trade at $210.35, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 1.00 per cent to $701.66, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.