Forex: Turnover in official market rises 95% to $12.68 bn in Q1’24

The volume of dollar traded (turnover) in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM, increased year-on-year (YoY) by 95% to $12.68 billion in the first quarter of the year (Q1’24) from $6.5 billion in Q1’23.

The sharp increase reflects impact of recent measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to liberalise the forex market and improve dollar supply into the country.

Vanguard analysis of data on daily transactions provided by FMDQ showed that the market recorded turnover of    $2.14 billion in January, which increased   by 133.6 per cent to   $5 billion in February and up by   10.8 percent to $5.54 billion in March.

Analysis of transactions in March showed   that turnover stood at $296 million on the first day of March and $1.15 billion in the second week.

In the third week, turnover fell by 26 percent to $848.36 billion and up by 48.5 percent to $1.26 billion in the fourth week.

Turnover increased by 57 percent to $1.98  billion (highest weekly turnover in March) in the fourth week.

Also reflecting impact of the CBN’s measures, the nations external reserves rose 2.9 per cent, quarter-on-quarter, QoQ, to $33.885 billion in Q1’24 from $32.912 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, Q4’24.

However, the naira recorded mixed performances in the parallel market and the official market in Q1’24

Data from FMDQ showed that the Naira depreciated in NAFEM by 44.3 per cent to   N1,309.39   per dollar  at the end of Q1’24, representing   from  N907.11  per dollar at the end of Q4’23

But, the Naira appreciated by 3.1 per cent in the parallel market to N1,290   per dollar in Q1’24 from N1,240   per dollar in Q4’23.