Naira Hits Five-Month High as Dollar Liquidity Improves

The naira extended its recent gains against the US dollar this week, trading at approximately ₦1,344.45 at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market on Thursday, August 20, 2026.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria placed the official rate at ₦1,343.32 on August 18, a five-month high, before it closed slightly softer at ₦1,350 on August 17.

Findings show the appreciation followed improved dollar liquidity across the formal market, with the naira climbing from ₦1,358.25 on August 14.

In the parallel market, the dollar continued trading around ₦1,404 to ₦1,415, keeping a spread of roughly ₦60 between official and street rates, a gap the CBN maintains reflects an unofficial market it does not recognise.

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Reserves, oil and the limits of a stronger naira

ValidViewNetwork reports that the currency’s recent resilience tracks a broader liquidity story; external reserves reportedly touched a 17-year high above $52 billion in mid-August, and CBN intervention data shows the bank sold over $953 million into the market in a single month earlier in 2026, more than 16 times its January intervention level.

That scale of defence explains why the naira has held its ground even as global oil prices, Nigeria’s primary export earner, have stayed volatile through the year.

The trouble is that official-market stability rarely reaches the households paying import-driven prices at the till.

A naira that gains roughly 1 to 2 per cent in a month at the NFEM does little to reverse two years of cumulative depreciation that saw the currency roughly quadruple in cost against the dollar since the 2023 exchange-rate unification, meaning this week’s five-month high is a genuine policy win, but a modest one against the scale of the adjustment Nigerians have already absorbed.