Market News

The naira has strengthened to N1,506.08/$ at the official market, its strongest performance since March.

The naira appreciated to N1,506.08 per dollar at the official foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday, marking its strongest performance since March 5 when the local currency traded at N1,500.80/$.

Data from the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), which oversees official FX trading, showed the naira gained marginally by 0.05 percent, strengthening to N1,506.08/$ from N1,506.84/$ recorded on Monday.

On September 3, the naira had also appreciated to N1,521.45/$ at the official window, continuing a trend of gradual stability in recent weeks.

At the parallel market, however, the currency held steady at N1,525/$, unchanged from the previous day.

The development comes a day after the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the administration’s tough policy choices were beginning to deliver results.

“And with the removal of fuel subsidies and the liberalisation of the exchange rate, these difficult decisions have also been taken because they were necessary and they’re yielding positive results,” Edun said on Monday.

He added that the government was focused on strengthening fiscal and debt management while driving economic reforms.

“In addition, the government’s priorities include debt transparency, growth-enhancing borrowing, domestic revenue mobilisation, as I’ve emphasised, and coordinated debt treatment. And what are the results?”

Edun maintained that the economy was showing signs of recovery.“The Nigerian economy is turning the corner,” he said.

Boluwatife Enome