The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) withdrew N1.7 trillion from the financial system in March 2025 through Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions, a move aimed at curbing rising prices and stabilising foreign exchange (FX) volatility, according to a report by Afrinvest Research. However, only the mid- and long-dated instruments received subscriptions during both auction rounds.
Despite the liquidity tightening measures, the naira depreciated by 2.4% and 2.6% month-on-month against the US dollar, closing at N1,536.82/$1.00 and N1,530.00/$1.00 at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window and the parallel market, respectively. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external reserves declined slightly by 0.2% in March, ending the month at $38.3 billion.
On a daily trading basis, the local currency depreciated by N5 as the dollar was quoted at N1,565 on Friday as against N1,560 quoted on the previous day, in the black market.