October 30, (THEWILL) – In an unprecedented twist of events, the Nigerian naira suffered a significant plunge in the financial market on Monday, October 30, 2023, the lowest since the currency float policy was introduced mid-June, 2023.
The currency, which had exchanged for N789.94 to a dollar on Friday, saw a massive dip of 25.8 percent, settling at N993.82 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday – the worst depreciation numbers on the official window.
The parallel market closed at N1,200 per dollar – a 20 percent drop from the N1,000 per dollar it recorded at the close of trading on Friday last week (October 27)..
While the open indicative rate announced Monday’s trading at N794.70 to the dollar, what stood out was the spot exchange rate of N998.90 during the day’s trading – an unusual peak in the currency’s unstable value. The naira eventually found its equilibrium at N993.82 – a record plunge in the currency’s tumultuous exchange rate scenario.
The day’s turnover reflected in the corresponding performance – a low level of $88.31 million which represents a whopping 194.23 percent decrease from $259.84 million that exchanged hands among investors and traders last Friday.
The Nigerian government has vowed to halt the tumbling trend of the naira by increasing dollar supply to boost liquidity in the forex market. How this can be achieved without addressing the myriad of structural challenges that confront the weak domestic capacity is yet to be ascertained.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
