Dollar finally falls below N1,000 at P2P, 1st time since September, as CBN’s forex solution pays off

Dollar, for the first time since September 20, 2023(44 days ago), is selling below N1,000 at the Peer to Peer(P2P) segment of the foreign exchange market.

The peer-to-peer market is mostly used by cryptocurrency platforms and Nigerians buying dollars from fintech apps.

Checks by Legit.ng show that naira exchange against the US dollar as of 09:00 West Africa Time (WAT) on Friday, November 3, sold at N995 against the US dollar compared to Thursday's closing rate of N1,113/$1.

This indicates the Naira appreciated in just a few hours by N118 against the US dollar.

Why Naira appreciated

The Naira appreciated after it emerged that the Central Bank of Nigeria has started clearing backlogs of foreign debts to international banks and companies.

In a circular titled "Settlement of Matured FX Forwards by CBN," Citi Bank confirmed the payment of all outstanding matured forward FX, Punch reports.

The bank noted: “It is a gradual payment that was done secretly, CBN didn’t make a fuss about it. It started yesterday and continued all through the night.”

More gains for Naira are expected

Legit.ng, in an earlier report, predicted the dollar exchange rate to Naira will fall below N1,000, and Naira will recover some of its lost value.

More gains are expected in the coming days as the CBN also anticipates an inflow of $10 billion to boost the market.

Taiwo Oyedele, in an interview with Bloomberg, revealed that the federal government expects an exchange rate of N650 to N750 by December 2023.

Similarly, JP Morgan, a global financials institution, in its note to investors, forecasted a N850 to a dollar exchange rate by the end of the year.