The Naira, on Wednesday, traded fairly stable against the United States dollar with the latest rates showing a modest gap between the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) and the parallel market.
The latest available NFEM data put the dollar at about N1,346.34/$1, according to the current USD/NGN exchange-rate benchmark.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) explains that the NFEM rate is derived from the volume-weighted average of transactions and serves as the official exchange rate for the day.
The latest confirmed official-market figures also showed the Naira closing at around N1,346.90 per dollar, indicating that the currency has remained close to the N1,347/$1 level in the official market.
In the parallel market, the dollar was quoted at about N1,400/$1 on Wednesday, according to Aboki Forex, which tracks street-market rates and updates its quotations regularly.
At the parallel-market rate of N1,400/$1, $100 would exchange for approximately N140,000, while $1,000 would be worth about N1.4 million.
The difference between the official NFEM rate of about N1,346.34 and the parallel-market rate of N1,400 is approximately N53.66 per dollar.
The naira’s recent stability follows a period of improved conditions in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market.
Reuters reported last week that the currency was trading at about N1,345/$1 in the official market, while street rates were around N1,410/$1, highlighting the narrowing gap between the two markets.
The CBN’s latest published data show that the NFEM rate is based on actual market transactions, while rates in the parallel market can fluctuate during the day depending on dollar supply, demand, location and the volume of transactions.