FOLLOWING the depreciation of the Nigerian currency(Naira) in the past few months, further setbacks have hit the West African market region’s local currency as trans-border traders have started rejecting the currency.

Vanguard findings across the Seme border show that the traders on both sides are now preferring either the CFA or the domestic currency of the non-francophone countries.

Hitherto, Naira ruled the sub-region as the dominant currency accepted as a medium of exchange by traders across the borders due to the high volume of trade between those countries and Nigeria.

The Nigerian currency traded in the status of convertibility in the unofficial payment systems of the countries.

However, Vanguard’s findings indicated that the Naira began sliding from that status in February, hitting the point of outright rejection in March 2024.

Some of the traders interviewed by Vanguard included Nigerians. They lamented that holding Naira has become a huge risk as the value keeps depreciating since last year with the worst rate of depreciation recorded last month.

Official reports indicate that Naira which traded above N1/1.5CFA in the first quarter of 2023 dropped sharply to N1/0.9CFA in the second quarter and N1/0.8CFA in the third quarter 2023.

After a moderate stability through the fourth quarter 2023, it opened 2024 at N1/ 0.66067CFA in January 2024.
However, following a second wave of depreciation in February, the sub-regional fortune went down drastically to N1/0.38308CFA before hitting a new low of N1/0.37595CFA last week.

The traders are already hedging against further depreciation although there’s a slight improvement in the last few days.