Naira continues depreciation against dollar, records highest decline weekly

The Nigerian naira continued depreciation on Friday at the foreign exchange market to end the week on a negative note.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange rate data, the Naira fell to N1,517.24 on Friday from N1,512.30 exchanged on Thursday.

On a day-to-day basis, this showed that the Naira dropped by N4.94 to the dollar compared to the N1,512.30 exchange rate on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the black market Naira remained flat at N1,580 per dollar, the same rate recorded on Thursday when it had the highest fall from N1,525 in the week under review.

In the last five days, the Naira suffered more depreciation except on Tuesday, according to apex bank exchange data.

At the official market, the Naira started the week with N 1,498.98 per dollar and ended at N 1,517.24, CBN’s data showed. This means that at the official market, the Naira lost N18.26, the highest in the past weeks.

Similarly, at the parallel foreign exchange, the kickoff of the week was at N1506 per dollar but closed at N1,580, data from Bureau De Change Operators showed. This indicates that in the black market, the Naira lost N74 against the dollar.

The development comes as Nigeria’s external reserves declined by $1.31 billion, which stood at $38.42 billion on February 28th from $39.72 billion at the end of January 2025.