The naira weakened to ₦1,348.74 per dollar in the official foreign exchange market on Thursday, November 5, 2026, as demand for dollars from importers and foreign portfolio investors outpaced supply, according to Central Bank of Nigeria data cited in market reports published on Friday, November 6, 2026.

The spot rate slipped from ₦1,347.7983 the previous day, with transactions concluded between ₦1,348 and ₦1,350.50 during intraday trading, MarketForces Africa reported, citing CBN data. The parallel market quoted the dollar as high as ₦1,420.

Interbank turnover fell about 19 per cent to $82.162 million on November 5, down from $100.929 million a day earlier, the same CBN data showed. Legit.ng reported that turnover had already dropped 15.15 per cent to $100.929 million on November 4 from $118.957 million, while the number of completed transactions fell to 97 from 117.

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MarketForces Africa attributed the pressure to import-related payments, corporate obligations and profit-taking by foreign portfolio investors. The naira traded in a range that market participants read as a signal of a shortfall in foreign exchange supply.

Reserves retreat from recent peak

Nigeria’s gross external reserves closed at $55.149 billion, a fifth consecutive daily decline from a recent peak of $55.264 billion, a difference of roughly $115 million, according to CBN figures reported by Legit.ng and MarketForces Africa.

BusinessDay reported that reserves stood at about $55.24 billion at the end of October, up from about $43.15 billion a year earlier. In an opinion article published on November 6, the newspaper noted that CBN Governor figures put gross reserves at about $55 billion and net reserves at $46 billion in October, and argued that the two measures are not interchangeable.

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The same BusinessDay analysis observed that the naira still depreciated by 1.2 per cent in October, closing at ₦1,346.26 to the dollar on October 30, compared with ₦1,330.09 at the beginning of the month.

BusinessDay also cited CBN flow data showing net foreign exchange inflows of $22.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026, the highest since the final quarter of 2019. The improvement was driven largely by a sharper reduction in outflows rather than higher inflows: total inflows fell from $32.39 billion in the first quarter to $31.43 billion in the second, while outflows dropped from $11.05 billion to $8.93 billion. Portfolio investment rose 45 per cent to $6.51 billion in the quarter.

Analysts point to a ₦1,330–₦1,370 range

Foreign exchange analysts at Coronation Group expect the naira to trade within a band of ₦1,330 to ₦1,370 per dollar in the near term, MarketForces Africa reported. That forecast assumes no material deterioration in global risk sentiment, no sharp decline in oil prices and no resurgence in domestic demand for foreign exchange.

Legit.ng reported that the apex bank had previously injected approximately $1 billion into the foreign exchange market to address liquidity shortages and steady the currency. It also noted that the US Dollar Index declined 0.43 per cent to about 101.40, reflecting broader weakness in the American currency against major peers.

Corporate users of the official rate are already pricing it into payments. Airtel Africa fixed ₦1,347.44 per dollar for its 3.1 US cents per share interim dividend, a notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange on November 5, 2026 showed, translating to about ₦41.77 per share for shareholders paid in naira.

How the market reached this point

The Central Bank of Nigeria collapsed all foreign exchange windows into the Investors and Exporters window in a circular issued on June 14, 2023, a change that ended the segmentation of the market and allowed the naira to float more freely.

‘Abolishment of segmentation. All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks.’

The circular also reintroduced the willing buyer, willing seller model at the window and set the operational rate for government-related transactions as the weighted average rate of the preceding day’s executed trades.