In yet another negative outcome, the Naira slid by 0.15 per cent or N2.27 on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday to N1,510.10/$1 compared with the preceding trading session’s N1,507.83/$1.
Equally, the Nigerian Naira further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N4.43 to sell for N1,906.38/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,901.95/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N4.30 to close at N1,609.97/€1, in contrast to Wednesday’s value of N1,605.67/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that the forex turnover for the session significantly increased by 62.8 per cent or $110.82 million to $287.21 million from the $176.39 million recorded in the last trading session.
In the same vein, the Naira suffered a loss of N20 against the greenback during the trading session to finish at N1,520/$1 versus the midweek’s closing price of N1,500/$1.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, said during an interview earlier in the week that the country’s total foreign exchange (FX) inflow hit $24 billion in the first quarter of the year.
He said the problems with Nigeria were only temporary, adding that recent policy efforts by the fiscal authorities are adequate to increase revenues and tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He emphasised that Nigeria was looking to double diaspora remittances.
According to him, “And even talking about things like how to attract more foreign exchange flows, we’ve had a recognition of the huge role that the diaspora, the Nigerian diaspora plays.
“They remit a tremendous amount of money into the system over a period of time.”
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Thursday, with Solana (SOL), the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, having experienced a significant price surge in the last 24 hours, growing by 6.5 per cent yesterday to $144.69.
This came as VanEck, a prominent New York-based investment management firm known for its exchange-traded fund (ETF) products, filed an S-1 registration statement on Thursday for its “VanEck Solana Trust.” This move marks the first public attempt to launch a spot Solana (SOL) ETF in the United States.
Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 3.5 per cent to $0.1253, Litecoin (LTC) jumped by 3.3 per cent to $73.27, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 2.3 per cent to $3,448.27, Cardano (ADA) went north by 2.0 per cent to $0.3875, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 1.9 per cent to $578.54, Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.8 per cent to $0.4758, Bitcoin (BTC) leapt by 1.3 per cent to $61,510.87, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.02 per cent to sell for $1.00, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00.
– By Adedapo Adesanya