Naira weakens to N1,331.77 per dollar in official market

The naira weakened against the U.S. dollar in Nigeria’s official foreign-exchange market on Wednesday, October 7, with the Central Bank of Nigeria reporting a closing rate of N1,331.77 per dollar, compared with N1,330.87 at the previous close. The move reversed a small gain recorded a day earlier, according to the reports. In the parallel market, a bureau de change operator in Abuja, Abubakar Bengazzir, quoted the naira at N1,383 per dollar on Wednesday, up from N1,370 on Monday. The quote is an operator’s reported rate, not a market-wide average. The two rates reflect separate foreign-exchange segments and different comparison dates. The Central Bank reported that Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at $54.98318 billion on October 6, unchanged from the previous day. The reported reserve figure provides a snapshot of the country’s external holdings but does not, by itself, explain the naira’s movement. The available figures do not establish what caused the currency’s weakening. Trading activity was also uneven in early October. Reported foreign-exchange spot and derivatives turnover fell to $1.697 billion in the week ended October 2, from $2.63 billion the previous week.