JUST-IN: ABCON Foresees Stronger Naira Performance In 2024

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has expected that the naira will close against the dollar in 2024 at an exchange rate of N900/$....CONTINUE READING

Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, in chats with our correspondent, also shared his expectations on the convergence between official and unofficial market exchange rates, saying ABCON expects a better year (2024) for the naira at forex markets.

It would be recalled that in 2023, the value of the naira depreciated from N450 to the dollar at the official rate to exchange between N950 and N1000 at the official market. While in the black market, the naira fell from N750 to as high as N1, 300 against the US dollar. Bloomberg reported that this poor performance placed the naira among the world’s worst performers after the Lebanese pound and the Argentine peso in a list of 151 currencies.

The New Year has also not started well for the naira as it fell to a record low during the official market’s second trading day in 2024 and exchanged above N1,200/$ in the unofficial market.

Gwadabe, while speaking on the outlook for 2024, outlined expectations for a better year for the naira, particularly in the latter part of the year.

He said: “We expect the slide of the value of the naira to continue in the first quarter of 2024 as a result of the acute shortage of liquidity carried forward from 2023 from an average of N500/$ to N1300/$ lately in the parallel market, leaving the speculators with no any market challenger that the BDCs use to perform.

“As the apex bank continues to walk their talk in the second quarter of 2024 in lifting capital control, clearing backlog, enhancing market confidence, and diversifying foreign inflows we will begin to see the convergence of the official and official market levels.

“We expect naira to end in 2024 at N900/$ with the full convergence of both the official and unofficial market,” Gwadabe said.