By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira resumed its slide as it recorded a 0.32 per cent or N4.95 depreciation on the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Wednesday, July 17 to close the week at N1,581.65/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s value of N1,576.66/$1.
This happened amid a further decline in foreign exchange (FX) supply levels as the turnover went down by 21.7 per cent or $30.01 million to $108.16 million from the $138.17 million recorded in the previous trading session, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
But the Nigerian Naira witnessed a flat outcome against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market at midweek at N2,037.36/£1 and N1,711.45/€1, respectively.
In the parallel market yesterday, the domestic currency depreciated against the United States currency by N30 to quote at N1,615/$1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N1,585?41.
The Nigerian government moved to tax windfalls generated by banks in the 2023 financial year following the liberalisation of the FX market.
President Bola Tinubu wrote to lawmakers to allow a one-time 50 per cent tax on the FX gains as he sought to amend the 2023 Finance Act. The money will be used to fund capital infrastructure development, education, healthcare, and welfare projects.
Alongside the new tax, the President requested lawmakers to increase government spending by as much as N6.2 trillion.
In the cryptocurrency market, there were largely negative outcomes as a result of profit-taking with Ripple (XRP) down by 2.8 per cent to $0.5864.
The market had appreciated on a looming settlement between Ripple and the SEC in the XRP lawsuit, which started last year.
Dogecoin (DOGE) sank by 2.8 per cent to sell at $0.1225, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to $3,433.69, Litecoin (LTC) waned by 1.7 per cent to $72.15, and Solana (SOL) went down by 1.6 per cent to $159.21.
In addition, Binance Coin (BNB) dropped 1.3 per cent to sell for $574.96, Bitcoin (BTC) declined by 1.2 per cent to finish at $64,948.67, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) decreased by 0.1 per cent to $0.9999, while Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 0.6 per cent to $0.4484, with the US Dollar Coin (USDC) trading flat at $1.00.