Business
Naira falls to all-time low on official window, trades 1348/$
Naira falls to all-time low on official window, trades 1348/$
On Monday, the naira hit an all-time low of N1348.63 per dollar on the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market.
According to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, this represents a 51.21 percent drop from the national currency’s official market closing rate of N891.90/$ last Friday.
Monday’s official rate is the worst official exchange rate the country has recorded since the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the national currency on June 2023.
The naira had closed above the N1000/$ on the official window. On December 8, the naira first fell to an all-time low of N1,099.05/$. On December 28, 2023, it closed at N1043.09/$, and N1035.12/$ on January 3, 2024. On January 9, 2024, it closed at N1089.51/$ and N1082.32/$ on January 10, 2024.
This steep depreciation of the naira against the dollar is defying efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Government to boost liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
The national currency is also not faring better on the parallel window of the foreign exchange market. According to Bureau de Change Operators, the naira further fell to N1,450/$ as of the end of trading on Monday. On Friday, the naira closed at N1,420/$ on the parallel window.
A trader, Abdusallam Abubakar, told The PUNCH, “If you want to buy, I’ll sell to you at N1,450/$. That’s the price for today. We buy at N1440/$.”
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Another operator, Magaji Mohammed, corroborated Abdusallam, “Dollar sells at N1450/$ today.”
The naira also took a beating in the cryptocurrency peer-to-peer market, trading for N1,429/$ on Binance’s P2P platform as of the time of filing this report. According to Chainalysis, a blockchain firm, Nigeria has one of the largest peer-to-peer exchange volumes in the world.
With this new rate, the exchange rate gap between the official and parallel markets has now narrowed to N101.37. The recent fall of the naira is despite the recent payment of $2.5bn by the apex bank to clear forex backlogs.
On Monday, the CBN paid $500m to clear part of forex obligations. This is following a recent $2bn payment for the same purpose. The bank is rumoured to be owing $7bn in FX backlogs.
The apex bank’s spokesperson Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali revealed the $500m payment in Abuja on Monday.
She said, “The Management of the CBN is committed to settling all legitimate foreign exchange backlogs within a short time frame.”
Sidi Ali assured Nigerians that the CBN is implementing a comprehensive strategy to improve cash flow in the Nigerian foreign exchange markets in the short, medium, and long term.
“As the governor said, the CBN’s focus is on addressing fundamental issues that have hindered the effective operation of the Nigerian FX markets over the years,” she added.
While announcing some of the moves of the CBN to save the naira, the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, revealed that the naira is currently undervalued.
The continued fall of the naira is expected to negatively impact the prices of goods and services in the country. Manufacturers recently told The PUNCH that they might hike the prices of commodities in the market in response to the exchange rate fluctuations.
Naira falls to all-time low on official window, trades 1348/$
(Punch)
Business
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
No fewer than 200 trucks are set to load petroleum products at the government-owned Port Harcourt Refinery, the presidency has said.
A presidential spokesperson, Sunday Dare, made this known in a statement through his official X handle on Tuesday.
Newstrends had reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company on Tuesday announced that Port Harcourt Refinery has resumed operations and crude oil processing after years of inactivity.
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Reacting, Dare said, “200 trucks are expected to load products daily from the refinery, Renewing the Hopes of Nigeria.”
He added that “the Port Harcourt refinery has two wings.
“The Old Refinery comes on stream today with an installed production capacity of 60, 000 barrels per day of crude oil.”
PH refinery: 200 trucks will load petroleum products daily, says Presidency
Business
Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%
Breaking: CBN increases interest rate to 27.50%
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the lending interest to 27.50 per cent from 27.25 per cent.
This latest increase in the Monetary Policy Rate came after a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday and concluded Tuesday.
The Monetary Policy Rate measures the benchmark interest rate.
The CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, announced this in Abuja on Tuesday after the MPC meeting, last for the year, held at the apex bank’s headquarters.
He said the MPC voted unanimously to raise the MPR by 25 basis points from 27.25% to 27.50%; and retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 50% for Deposit Money Banks and 16% for Merchant Banks.
The CBN governor also said the MPC retained the Liquidity Ratio (LR) at 30% and Asymmetric Corridor at +500/-100 basis points around the MPR.
Business
Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS
Nigeria’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in Q2 – NBS
Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said in its latest report.
The report released on Monday said the unemployment rate decreased compared to the 5.3 per cent recorded in the Q1 of 2024.
The NBS defined the unemployment rate as the share of the labour force (the combination of unemployed and employed people) who are not employed but actively searching and are available for work.
“The unemployment rate for Q2 2024 was 4.3%, showing an increase of 0.1 percentage point compared to the same period last year,” the report stated.
“The unemployment rate among males was 3.4% and 5.1% among females.
“By place of residence, the unemployment rate was 5.2% in urban areas and 2.8% in rural areas. Youth unemployment rate was 6.5% in Q2 2024, showing a decrease from 8.4% in Q1 2024.”
Report also said the unemployment rate among persons with post-secondary education was 4.8 per cent; 8.5 per cent among those with upper secondary education, 5.8 per cent for those with lower secondary education, and 2.8 per cent among those with primary education in Q2 2024.
Employment rate – 76%
The report showed that the employment-to-population ratio, which measures the number of employed workers against the total working-age population, increased to 76.1 per cent in Q2 2024.
“In Q2 2024, 76.1% of Nigeria’s working-age population was employed, up from 73.1% in Q1 2024,” the report stated.
Self-employment – 85.6%
The report further showed that Nigeria’s labour market saw a notable shift as the proportion of self-employed individuals increased in Q2 2024.
It stated, “The proportion of persons in self-employment in Q2 2024 was 85.6%.”
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