Naira depreciates further, as foreign reserves gain $600m in one week

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Nigeria’s local currency, Naira, faced severe pressures last week, forcing it to a record depreciation against the US Dollar in both the parallel market and Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

This came at the backdrop of the $600 million accretion to the nation’s foreign reserves during the week.In the parallel market the exchange rate rose to N570 per dollar on Friday from N540 per dollar the previous week, losing N30, the highest in recent years.

In the I&E window, the Naira depreciated by 88 kobo as the indicative exchange rate dropped to N412.88 per dollar on Friday from N412 per dollar the previous week.

However, the volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the window rose by 35 per cent to $975.63 million last week from $724.11 million traded the previous week.

Meanwhile, data on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website showed that the nation’s foreign reserves gained $600 million as the gross amount rose to $35.4 billion on Friday from $34.8 billion the previous week.