The Naira appreciated to N1,595 per dollar in the parallel market yesterday, up from N1,610 per dollar on Monday. This marks a N45 gain from last week’s rate of N1,640 per dollar.
In the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), the Naira remained stable at N1,499 per dollar but recorded a N27.3 week-on-week (WoW) gain from last Tuesday’s rate of N1,526.3 per dollar.
With these improvements, the exchange rate gap between the parallel market and NFEM narrowed to N96 per dollar, compared to N113.7 per dollar last week.
The Naira has been on an upward trend since January 23, when it strengthened to N1,665 per dollar in the parallel market, up from N1,670 per dollar the previous day. Similarly, in the official market, it appreciated to N1,548 per dollar from N1,553 per dollar.
Traders attribute the Naira’s recent gains to lower dollar demand, particularly due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Additionally, banks have resumed processing Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) requests, which were previously difficult for customers to access.