The naira showed continued resilience on Tuesday, trading at ₦1,379.62 per dollar on the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), extending its recent run of relative calm even as the parallel market maintained its familiar premium.
Figures published on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange portal put the official closing rate at ₦1,379.62/$1, with the currency confined to a tight band through the session, an intraday high of ₦1,382.00 against a low of ₦1,375.00, and a spread of just ₦7.
That narrow trading range points to balanced, if modest, two-way flow between buyers and sellers rather than the one-directional pressure that has periodically rattled the market this year.
Analysts have generally attributed this steadier footing to improved dollar liquidity at the official window and the Central Bank’s ongoing reform push, which has focused on deepening price discovery and drawing more transactions into the formal market.
The picture was less encouraging away from the official window. Bureau de Change operators quoted the dollar at around ₦1,410 for selling and ₦1,400 for buying, leaving a gap of roughly ₦30 between the two markets, a premium that, while persistent, is narrower than it has been during past bouts of volatility. That spread continues to reflect steady informal demand from travelers, importers, and small businesses that are unable to source sufficient foreign currency through banking channels.
It’s worth flagging that same-day reporting on the naira has varied somewhat across outlets this week; some trackers put the parallel rate closer to ₦1,420–1,425 and the official rate slightly higher, around ₦1,380–1,382, a reminder that BDC quotes in particular can shift by location and dealer even within a single trading day.
The official NFEM figure, as the volume-weighted average published by the CBN, remains the authoritative benchmark for the day’s formal-market transactions.
Looking ahead, market watchers say the naira’s trajectory will continue to hinge on familiar levers: crude oil export earnings, the pace of foreign portfolio inflows, diaspora remittances, and the size of external reserves alongside whatever fresh signals emerge from the CBN’s next policy moves.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The naira held stable at ₦1,379.62/$1 on the official market Tuesday, with the parallel market gap holding near ₦30, a sign that CBN liquidity reforms are keeping the currency on a steadier footing, even if full unification with the black market remains a work in progress.
