Market News

BY  Wasiu Alli 

Nigeria’s naira is expected to maintain its positive run throughout 2025 as the country’s monetary and fiscal authorities continue to strengthen efforts to shore up the value of the currency, according to central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) member Murtala Sagagi.

“The value of the naira has been relatively stable even though it is still considered undervalued. It is projected that the naira would appreciate to N1,450 per US dollar by the end of 2025,” Sagagi said after a May 20 committee meeting, the central bank said in a statement published on its website.

The CBN usually publishes full details of the presentation from the prior meeting before the next one is held. The Abuja-based lender is scheduled to hold its 301st meeting next Monday and Tuesday where it’ll determine the fate of the country’s monetary rate.

The naira has largely been stable this year amid global shocks and volatility in global oil prices much of which the country earns bulk of its revenues. The price of Brent crude, Nigeria’s major foreign currency earner, traded mostly below the 2025 budget benchmark of $75 a barrel.

The naira rose to a four-month high of N1,518/$ last Wednesday but shed some of its value, ending the week at N1,532 per dollar. Despite the marginal drop, analysts at Lagos-based consultancy Cordros “anticipate that the naira will remain stable in the near term” barring any unexpected shocks.

“We expect FX liquidity to remain robust, supported by reduced global pressures and stronger market confidence, which continues to attract inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).

The currency has lost more than 70 percent of its value against the dollar since President Bola Tinubu relaxed exchange controls in 2023 to lure external investors and end a dollar shortage, as part of broader fiscal and monetary reforms to revamp the economy.“Nigerian Naira is starting to look interesting again. Naturally, with the current global trend, the dollar weakened from April to June. The DXY fell by over 7% and EM currencies strengthened, the naira also strengthened by over 6% from its lows,” said Arnold Dublin-Green, chief investment officer at Lagos-based Cordros said in a note.

“In a quarter clouded by geopolitical noise and oil uncertainty, that kind of strength suggests something could be shifting internally.”