By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further tumbled by 0.86 per cent or N28.34 against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday as Nigeria’s inflation jumped to 34.19 per cent in June 2024, reducing the chances of interest rate cuts.
Yesterday, the exchange rate closed at N1,577.29/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing price of N1,563.80/$1, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
Confidence in the FX market has waned with continued economic woes as residents in Africa’s most populous nation face a cost-of-living issue, pushing the inflation figure up to its highest point in 28 years.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, the June figure is 0.24 per cent higher than the 33.95 per cent recorded in May. The lowest figure in 2024 was 29.90 per cent, recorded in January.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40 per cent points higher than the 22.79 per cent recorded in June 2023.
At the official market yesterday, the value of FX transactions improved by 21.4 per cent or $27.03 million to $153.53 million from the $126.50 million posted in the last trading session.
Also, the Naira witnessed a further decline against the Pound Sterling in the spot market during the session by N16.95 to settle at N2,034.74/£1 versus N2,017.79/£1 and lost N11.73 against the Euro to sell for N1,709.87/€1 versus N1,698.14/€1.
In the same vein, the local currency suffered a decline of N10 against the American Dollar on Monday to settle at N1,570/$1 compared with the preceding session’s exchange rate of N1,560/$1.
As for the crypto market, it appreciated yesterday as institutional inflow into investment products of digital assets hit a new record of $17.8 billion year-to-date, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading the pack. This new record spells the beginning of a possible recovery of the general crypto market.
This followed a very impressive week for crypto assets investment products pulling in over $1.44 billion in inflows last week.
Dogecoin (DOGE) gained 3.7 per cent to sell at $0.1227, Ripple (XRP) rose by 4.7 per cent to trade at $0.5377, Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 2.6 per cent to $570.96, Solana (SOL) expanded by 2.5 per cent to $156.20, and Ethereum (ETH) also increased by 2.5 per cent to quote at $3,427.57.
In addition, Litecoin (LTC) advanced by 2.2 per cent to $72.24, Bitcoin (BTC) went up by 1.3 per cent to $63,745.50, and Cardano (ADA) surged by 0.1 per cent to $0.439, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 flat.