By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that the inflation rate increased in November 2024 to a multi-year high of 34.60 per cent.
The local currency lost N12.10 or 0.79 per cent against the greenback yesterday to trade at N1,545.10/$1 compared with last Friday’s closing rate of N1,533.00/$1, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
The NBS on Monday indicated that inflation rose by 0.72 per cent on a month-on-month basis to a year-high of 34.60 per cent in November 2024. In the preceding month, the rate was 33.88 per cent.
Analysts at Coronation Plc noted, “The month-on-month core inflation measure eased to 1.38 per cent from 2.14 per cent in October, following the NNPC downwards review of petrol price in November.”
However, it warned that “Persistent inflationary pressures continue to pose significant challenges to businesses and households. Elevated production costs have translated into higher operating expenses for businesses, many of which have been passed on to consumers through increased prices. This dynamic erodes household purchasing power and suppresses consumer demand.”
But it was observed that at the official market, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N1.31 to trade at N1,940.88/£1 compared with the previous trading day’s N1,942.19/£1 and against the Euro, it improved by N3.98 to sell for N1,608.87/€1 versus N1,612.85/€1.
At the black market, the Naira, however, declined against the Dollar yesterday by N10 to settle at N1,660/$1, in contrast to the previous trading session’s price of N1,650/$1.
Meanwhile, the digital currency market was largely mixed as investors awaited interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve this week while a stronger Dollar affected riskier assets.
Ripple (XRP) gained 4.5 per cent to sell at $2.52 as it announced the RLUSD stablecoin set to officially launch on Tuesday and the bullish sentiments surrounding the launch could further boost the price of the coin.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) increased its value by 1.5 per cent to finish at $106,876.37, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $4,019.57, and Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 0.4 per cent to $718.02.
On the flip side, Solana (SOL) slumped by 3.4 per cent to $215.97, Litecoin (LTC) slid by 3.1 per cent to $117.16, Cardano (ADA) lost 2.2 per cent to quote at $1.06, and Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 1.3 per cent to $0.4001, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.