Naira settles near N1,500/$ baseline in unofficial market  

The Nigerian naira posted decent gains against the American dollar on the parallel foreign exchange market during the mid-week trading session, amid ongoing improved market sentiments in Nigeria’s capital market.

Currency traders exchanged the naira at an average rate of N1,515 on Wednesday, up from N1,520/$ on Monday, representing a gain of N5 within a single day.

The changing dynamics in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market can be partially attributed to the CBN’s ongoing reforms.

The Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (BMatch), which was implemented in December 2024, is one of the major policy changes credited with the naira’s recovery.

This CBN-backed platform, using Bloomberg’s BMatch system, ensures more transparency and effective price discovery in the FX market by allowing authorized dealers to place anonymous orders into a central limit order book.

The system has tamed exchange rate swings by reducing market distortions and providing the CBN with better…