Naira suffers its first loss against the US dollar in 2023- Economists
The Nigerian Naira has suffered its first loss against the US dollar in the official market after a strong start to the year 2023.
On January 3, 2023, the first trading day of 2023, the Naira peaked at N461.00/$1.
In the Investors and Exporters (I&E) sector of the foreign exchange market in 2022, this is an increase from the previous close of N461.50 to $1.
However, the Naira erased its gains from the day before on Wednesday, January 4, 2022, to post its first loss of 2023.
FMDQ Securities Exchange data shows that the Naira lost 0.15% of its value when the dollar was quoted at N461.67 as opposed to the previous close of N461.00.
Following a lack of market activity, the naira weakened. On Wednesday, daily foreign exchange market turnover dropped from $153.45 million on Tuesday to $69.33 million, a 54.82 percent decrease.
Most currency dealers who participated in the FX auction on Wednesday kept their offers within the range of N440.00 and N462.00 per dollar.
On the black market, merchants reported that the exchange rate for the Naira on Tuesday, January 3, 2023 was N745 to $1 as opposed to N736 to $1 on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
According to political analyst Prof. Pat Utomi, the naira-dollar exchange rate may increase above $1 to N1,000 if the federal government’s budgetary and economic policies do not take “dramatic” action.
According to Leadership, Utomi made this statement on Wednesday, January 5, 2023’s episode of Politics Today on Channels Television.
