Naira slumps against dollar at official, black market on Friday

The naira slumped against the dollar on both official and parallel foreign exchange markets to end the week on a negative note.

FMDQ data showed that the depreciated to N1598.56 per dollar on Friday from N1593.93 exchanged on Thursday, losing N4.63.

Similarly, the naira recorded the worst fall in the black market, where it dropped by N25 from N1620 to N1645 per dollar on Friday.

This comes as foreign exchange transaction turnover increased to $172.80 million on Friday from $155.52 million recorded on Thursday, according to FMDQ data.

The naira lost N28.48 per dollar on a week-on-week basis compared to the N1570.14 it exchanged last Friday at the official market.

At the parallel market, the naira dropped by N30 compared to the N1615 per dollar exchange rate at the end of last week.

The persistent fluctuations in Nigeria’s FX market come from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Retail Dutch Auction System, which was reintroduced to stabilise the increase in FX demand.