The World Bank, in its latest edition of Africa’s Pulse report, has declared Nigeria’s Naira, the Ethiopian Birr, and the South Sudanese Pound as the worst-performing currencies in sub-Sahara Africa at the end of August 2024.
According to the report, Naira is at par with the Ethiopian Birr, and South Sudanese Pound in terms of decline in the region.
The World bank attributed the Naira’s decline to the continued increase in the demand for dollars and limited dollar inflow in the last months.
The report said Naira lost about 43 percent of its value as of August.
“By August 2024, the Ethiopian birr, Nigerian naira, and South Sudanese pound were among the worst performers in the region.
“The Nigerian naira continued losing value, with a year-to-date depreciation of about 43 percent as of end-August.
“Surges in demand for US dollars in the parallel market, driven by financial institutions, money managers, and non-financial end-users, combined with limited dollar inflows and slow foreign exchange disbursements to currency exchange bureaus by the central bank explain the weakening of the naira,” the report said.
On Tuesday, October 13, 2024, the Nigerian currency weakened significantly to N1658.97 per dollar from N1552.92 it exchanged on Monday, October 12, 2024. Despite interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria, in the past months, the Naira has continued to fluctuate against the dollar in the foreign exchange market.
