The Nigerian naira saw a slight improvement against the United States dollar on Tuesday, climbing to N1,499/$ from its previous all-time low of N1,534/$ on the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market.
This signifies a marginal gain of 2.3 percent or N35, as reported by FMDQ Exchange, the platform responsible for publishing official foreign exchange trading data in the country.
The naira has been under pressure due to the removal of fuel subsidies and the implementation of a unified exchange rate market initiated by President Bola Tinubu.
The local currency has experienced a gradual decline, dropping from N464.67/$ in May 2023 to N1,490/$ at the official market by February 2024. Concurrently, it fell from N763/$ to N1,470/$ at the parallel market during the same period.
On Monday, the naira hit a new low of N1,534/$, following previous lows of N1,099.05/$ on December 8 and N1,348.63/$ on January 30, 2024.
In the parallel market, the naira continued its upward trend, rising from N1,503 to N1,530 as the closing rates on Monday.
Currency traders in Abuja, commonly referred to as Bureau De Change operators, reported that the dollar opened at N1,509/$, peaked at N1,515/$ during intra-day trading, and closed at N1,530/$.
Ibrahim Taura, a BDC operator in Wuse, Abuja, noted that although the exchange rate remained high, demand for the greenback continued to increase, indicating ongoing market activity.
Another BDC operator, Nuhu Zakari, stationed at the Abuja airport, disclosed that he purchased the dollar at N1,525.
However, data from FMDG revealed a significant drop in dollar sales by banks, declining by 54.2 percent from $253.77 million on Friday to $116.11 million on Monday. Last week, commercial banks collectively sold a total of $1.97 billion.
