Naira Goes Down Despite Measures Put In Place to Sustain It - Market Analysts

On Monday, it was reported that the foreign exchange market opened the new trading week with the naira trading against the dollar for N1,430 on the parallel market, also known as the black market.

This record indicates a 5.49% depreciation against the dollar compared to the N1,350 per dollar the market closed on Friday at the black market last week.

However, currency dealers blamed the naira's decline on end users wanting to travel for business, pleasure, health, or education, who are increasingly demanding US dollars.

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The naira closed flat at N1,400.40 per dollar on Friday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), down 0.16% from N1,402.67 on Thursday.

On Friday, the intraday high closed at N1,435, which is stated to be a stronger close than N1,445 the day before. Compared to N1,299.42 on Thursday, the intraday low decreased to N1,300.40 on Friday.

Between Thursday and Friday, the money supplied by willing sellers and buyers fell by 13.29% to $201.88 million from $232.84 million. The naira closed flat at N1,380 against the dollar on the parallel market.

Looking ahead, analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said, "we expect the naira to be exchanged within the current band, barring any shocks."

In a recent report, Binance Holdings Ltd. said that the Nigerian government bribed it to submit some money to clear its past issues. Remember that the federal government stated that Binance was the key player in the naira devaluation. The Binance founder is being sentenced to jail for his involvement in money laundering, which US regulators accused the biggest crypto platform of assisting.

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This was in response to its request for the release of its employee, who is currently being held in the nation. The chief executive officer, Richard Teng, made this statement in a blog post on Monday. He described the steps the cryptocurrency exchange took to interact with the authorities, including a meeting in Abuja on January 8th, where it was faced with criminal accusations.

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"As our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested they make a payment to settle the allegations," Teng said. It was unclear from the blog whether the people were representatives of the Nigerian Government.

Teng reported that later in the day, its attorneys were "presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away." According to unidentified sources cited in a different New York Times story, the bribe was estimated to be around $150 million.