Nigeria Naira Plunges to Record Low, Falling for 9th Straight Year

Nigeria’s currency plunged to a record in the spot market on Friday, narrowing the gap with the rate that investors and exporters pay for the naira, according to Bloomberg.

The currency fell 2.2% to a record N424.27 versus the dollar as of 2.46 p.m. on Friday. It was the biggest drop in the official exchange rate since Feb. 23. The currency has weakened every year since 2012.

The naira has fluctuated widely this year around a largely fixed spot rate of around 415 as investors try to gauge the central bank’s exchange rate direction.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has been selling the greenback at between 437 to 444 naira per dollar to investors since early October.

But according to the central bank’s real effective exchange rate, “the currency is overvalued by around 12% and that should be an indication of the adjustment we need to see.”