The naira surged to a new height of N1,173.88 at the official market on Tuesday, while strengthening slightly to N1,480 from N1,500 on Monday at the unofficial market.
The British Pound also recorded a marginal gain at N1,888 while Euro exchanged for N1,630. A Canadian dollar sold for N1,112, and one Chinese yuan sold for N150.
While this is encouraging news, there was no data or identifiable fundamentals from either the Central Bank of Nigeria or the Ministry of Finance to substantiate the recent rising trend.
Stakeholders argue that the Nigerian currency requires stability, and the current gain calls into question the effectiveness of the Central Bank of Nigeria's monetary policy rate and other fiscal measures to stabilize the naira.
“By the time the dry season harvest is over, and the wet season production comes in, it is going to significantly bring down food inflation which is 50 percent of headline inflation in the country.”
The Minister, who made no mention of any policy decisions made by the government to stabilise the naira in the future, maintained that when inflation drops, the monetary authority would be able to stabilise the exchange rate more effectively.
