Naira strengthens, trades at N736/$ at I&E window

  The naira, on Thursday, appreciated to N736.62 per dollar at the investors and exporters (I&E) window.   The I&E window is the country’s official exchange rate window.   The foreign exchange (FX) rate movement represents a 4.53 percent appreciation of the local currency from the N771.59 recorded on the last trading day.   Data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees FX trading in Nigeria, showed that the official window recorded a low of N700 and a high of N799.90 to the dollar on Thursday.   FMDQ said trading opened at N774.74 and closed at the rate of N736.62; adding that the daily FX market turnover at the I&E window totalled $66.43 million.   In its August newsletter, named ‘FMDQ Spotlight’, the company said the total turnover for January to July 2023, amounted to $235.16 billion (N122.14 trillion).   Last Friday, Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, said the last time the foreign exchange (FX) rate was stable, was a decade ago.    “If we think back to when was the last time the economy was stable, when it was growing, when inflation was low, when the exchange rate was stable, and when interest rates were affordable; that period was about a decade ago,” he said.   The minister added that “economic growth was about 6 percent around 2013 to 2014”.