NAFEM forex turnover surges 61% to $43 billion in 2024

In the first eleven months of 2024 (11M’24), the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market’s (NAFEM) dollar trading volume (turnover) increased Year-on-Year (YoY) by 61.9 percent to $43.09 billion from $26.6 billion in the same time in 2023.NAFEM forex turnover surges 61% to $43 billion in 2024

According to FMDQ’s publication of market quarterly transaction data, turnover was $12.64 billion in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24) and dropped 19% on a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) basis to $10.24 billion in the second quarter (Q2’24).

In Q3 of 2024, turnover fell by 0.87 percent to $10.15 billion, continuing the decreasing trend. The volume jumped by 13.5 percent month-over-month (MoM) to $6.13 billion in November after increasing by 63 percent MoM to $5.4 billion in October from $3.31 billion in September.

In contrast, the naira saw erratic results in November’s foreign exchange market segments.

Compared to its closing value of N1,675.49 per dollar in October, the local currency in the NAFEM increased by N2.8, or 0.16 percent, to N1,672.69 per dollar at the conclusion of November trading.

But on the parallel market, the value of the naira dropped by N10, or 0.5%.

As opposed to N1,730 per dollar in October, dealers in this segment traded the dollars at N1,745 at the end of November.

As a result, the difference between the NAFEM rate and the parallel market rate increased from N54.61 per dollar in October to N72.31 in November.

In their Communique No. 155, members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expressed worry about the ongoing pressure on the currency rate. They asked the CBN to investigate alternative ways to increase the liquidity of the foreign exchange market.