The naira settled at N1,538.50 per dollar at the foreign exchange market for the first time after an appreciation streak.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange change data on Monday showed that it stood at N1,538.50 per dollar, slightly down from N1,535 recorded on Friday.

This represents N3.5 depreciation.

Similarly, at the black market, the naira closed at N1,630 per dollar on Monday from N1,600 recorded last week.

This is the first time the naira records depreciated days after CBN introduced the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) for transparent FX transactions.

The Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise attributed the recent Naira gain against the dollar to the CBN-recently announced EFEMS and a surge in the country’s external reserves.

Naira depreciates against dollar after days of gains