Naira according to the World Bank is at par with the Ethiopian Birr, and South Sudanese Pound in terms of decline in the region
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigeria’s legal tender, Naira is one of the worst-performing currencies in sub-Sahara Africa at the end of August 2024.
This was made known by the World Bank in its latest edition of Africa’s Pulse report.
According to the report, Naira is at par with the Ethiopian Birr, and South Sudanese Pound in terms of decline in the region.
The bank blamed the development on the continued increase in the demand for dollars and limited dollar inflow for Naira depreciation in the last months.
The report further noted that the Nigerian currency tender lost about 43 percent as of August.
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“By August 2024, the Ethiopian birr, Nigerian naira, and South Sudanese pound were among the worst performers in the region.
“The Nigerian naira continued losing value, with a year-to-date depreciation of about 43 percent as of end-August.
“Surges in demand for US dollars in the parallel market, driven by financial institutions, money managers, and non-financial end-users, combined with limited dollar inflows and slow foreign exchange disbursements to currency exchange bureaus by the central bank explain the weakening of the naira,” it said.
Meanwhile, Nigerian currency weakened significantly on Tuesday to N1658.97 per dollar from N1552.92 exchanged on Monday.
In the past months, it has continued to fluctuate against the dollar in the foreign exchange market despite interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
