The rallying of the Nigerian currency to N1,500 per dollar can be strengthened further as Nigeria grapples with exchange rate volatility.

The chief executive of a Lagos-based research firm, Ayo Teriba, said the naira’s current rate is nothing to be happy about due to its drop from N1,300 per dollar last year.

Teriba disclosed in a television interview that the local currency trading at N1,300 per dollar in April 2024 was more encouraging relative to N1,500.

According to him, the FX rate declined to as low as N1,900 and later improved to N1,300 per dollar, making it the best performance that year.

However, other experts said the naira has been bullish as it continues to strengthen since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) began reforms in December 2024 to boost transparency and efficiency in the FX market.

Teriba said inflation is still at a record high, stating that the forex rate is declining.

He said the government should seek to bring the exchange rate to N1,000, saying that while the naira is improving, there must be efforts to crash the US dollar to N1,000.

Janet Ogochukwu, senior banker and economist agreed with Teriba, saying that the current forex policy of the Nigerian government is not yielding the desired report.

“There is a chasm between the parallel and official markets. The reason for embarking on forex reforms was to unify the exchange rates.

So, the interventions are not producing the needed results. So, CBN can crash the FX rate still to N1,000 per dollar,” she said.

Naira rallies in all markets

Meanwhile, the value of Nigerian currency has improved against the United States dollar in the foreign exchange market.

According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira against the US dollar on Tuesday, Feb 18, sold for N1,509.57/$1 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

The naira also improved against the British pound sterling and the euro in the official foreign exchange markets.

Data showed that the Nigerian currency improved its value against the pound sterling by 21 kobo during the session to sell at N1,900.46/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,900.67/£1.

While against the euro, it gained N7.38 to quote at N1,576.10/€1 versus Monday’s closing price of N1,566.23/€1.