SAT JULY 11 2026-theGBJournal| The naira weakened against the U.S. dollar for a second consecutive week, underscoring persistent foreign exchange demand pressures despite continued intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The local currency depreciated by 0.5% week-on-week to close at ₦1,380.00/$ in the official market, compared with ₦1,373.50/$ a week earlier, as demand for foreign exchange outweighed the impact of the CBN’s $80 million market intervention.
The latest decline follows last week’s 0.2% depreciation, suggesting that while the apex bank continues to provide liquidity to the market, underlying demand remains resilient.
Pressure was also evident in the derivatives market, where the naira weakened across all forward contracts. The one-month contract depreciated by 0.6% to ₦1,401.47/$, the three-month tenor fell 0.5% to ₦1,439.77/$, the six-month contract declined 0.6% to ₦1,496.96/$, while the one-year forward weakened 0.5% to ₦1,609.72/$, reflecting expectations of a softer currency over the medium term.
In the parallel market, the naira also traded weaker, closing around ₦1,640/$ on Friday, maintaining a sizeable premium over the official market as unmet retail and informal-sector demand continued to spill over into the unofficial segment.
Sterling traded at about ₦1,840/£ in the official market, while the pound exchanged at roughly ₦2,156/£ in the parallel market, highlighting the persistent divergence between official and street-market pricing.
Despite the currency’s softer performance, Nigeria’s external reserve position continued to improve.
Gross external reserves rose by $217.75 million to $51.74 billion as of July 9, 2026, from approximately $51.52 billion at the end of the previous week, marking the ninth consecutive week of reserve accretion.
The sustained increase points to stronger foreign currency inflows and provides the CBN with additional capacity to support market liquidity and moderate exchange rate volatility.
Looking ahead, the naira is expected to remain broadly stable in the near term, underpinned by resilient foreign portfolio inflows, improving investor confidence and a stronger current account position.
Nevertheless, any resurgence in foreign exchange demand or deterioration in market liquidity could prompt further calibrated interventions by the CBN as it seeks to contain excessive volatility and preserve orderly market conditions.
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