Bismarck Rewane, an economist and the managing director of the financial derivatives company (FDC), predicted that the naira would strengthen further in January of next year relative to its current rate.
Rewane disclosed this during his monthly Lagos Business Executive Breakfast Session presentation.
The Nigerian currency has experienced mixed performance across all foreign exchange market segments in the past week.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the FX reserves hit record levels in 33 months, advancing 68 points weekly to settle at $40 billion. Data from the FMDQ Exchange shows that the naira depreciated by 70 basis points against the dollar to settle at N1,678.87 per dollar. However, the naira strengthened at the parallel market by 30 basis points against the dollar to close at N1,720 per dollar.
Rewane disclosed that there is no economic basis for the naira to trade at less than 30% of its fair value in less than one year.
He expressed strong optimism that the naira would recover some of its losses in January. According to him, the difference between the black market and the official window has disappeared. He said the development was responsible for the 30% value depreciation due to speculative round-tripping. The FDC boss said the CBN should announce a dollar sales programme similar to the T-Bill auction to help reduce market uncertainty.
source: legit.ng