As of the end of August 2024, the Nigerian Naira is one of the poorest-performing currencies in sub-Saharan Africa.
The World Bank disclosed this in its latest edition of Africa’s Pulse report.
Report showed that the Naira is at par with the Ethiopian Birr, and South Sudanese Pound in terms of decline in the region.
The report blamed the continued increase in the demand for dollars and limited dollar inflow for Naira depreciation in the last months.
According to the report, the Naira lost about 43 percent as of August.
“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.
Recall that the Naira weakened significantly on Tuesday to N1658.97 per dollar from N1552.92 exchanged on Monday.
In the past months, the Naira has continued to fluctuate against the dollar in the foreign exchange market despite interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s inflation rose to 32.70 percent in September from 32.15 percent recorded in August 2024.
Despite this, the World Bank’s Economic growth in Nigeria is projected at 3.3 percent in 2024 and 3.6 percent in 2025–26.