By George OPARA
The Nigerian naira is relatively stable against the United States dollar on Monday, May 25, 2026, trading within a narrow band across both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets despite ongoing pressure on retail forex demand.
Spear News Nigeria learned that data from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) showed the local currency exchanging at about โฆ1,375 to the dollar, closely aligning with the last official closing rate of โฆ1,375.46/$ recorded on Friday, May 22.
But at the parallel market the naira traded a bit at weaker levels as Bureau De Change operators in Lagos and Abuja quoted the greenback at around โฆ1,385 for buying and between โฆ1,395 and โฆ1,400 for selling.
Also, currency survey platforms tracking retail foreign exchange transactions reflected that the naira exchanged at approximately โฆ1,397/$ in street trading on Monday morning, highlighting the persistent disparity between official and unofficial market rates.
Yet, in the official market, the NFEM rate holds the benchmark exchange rate recognised by the CBN and is determined through a volume-weighted average mechanism designed to improve transparency and price discovery in the foreign exchange market
The maintained gap between the NFEM benchmark and black-market rates reflects lingering demand pressure in the informal retail forex segment despite a series of monetary reforms and interventions introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Financial experts premises the nairaโs recent stability on improved foreign exchange liquidity in the banking system, tighter monetary conditions, and ongoing CBN efforts to stabilize the market through policy adjustments and strategic dollar supply interventions.
They, however, said sustained import demand, external economic volatility, and speculative pressures remain significant threats to the currencyโs medium-term outlook.
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