Nigeria’s foreign exchange market experienced a dramatic shift in momentum during the second week of July, recording its sharpest weekly turnover decline of 2026. Total transactions across the FX spot and derivatives markets plunged by 46.57%, falling to $1.631 billion for the week ended July 10, 2026. This steep drop follows a blockbuster preceding week where transaction volumes peaked at an impressive $3.053 billion.
Data obtained from the latest FMDQ weekly FX market commentary reveals that the resulting $1.421 billion week-on-week decline represents the largest single-week contraction recorded in the official market so far this year. The slowdown affected both the spot and derivatives segments simultaneously, signaling a coordinated pullback in interbank and client-driven currency demand across the five-day trading period. This shift dragged the daily trading average down to $326.22 million from the previous week’s average of $610.60 million.
The FX spot segment bore the heaviest share of the nominal decline, with its weekly turnover diving 46.62% to $1.580 billion from $2.960 billion in the prior week. Despite this sharp contraction, the spot market maintained its iron clad grip on the ecosystem, commanding 96.86% of all market activity. Meanwhile, the FX forwards market experienced a similar trend, shrinking by 45.19% to settle at $51.22 million, down from $93.45 million the week before.
While a near-halving of market turnover may trigger immediate concerns about dollar scarcity, financial analysts suggest the data points toward a natural stabilization rather than a structural deterioration of market liquidity. The preceding week’s surge to over $3 billion was an unusually aggressive start to the new quarter, fueled by intense corporate demand and heavy interbank positioning. The subsequent dip reflects a routine mid-month lull and a temporary reduction in import financing requirements, keeping overall volumes safely within the broader performance bands established throughout June.
This latest contraction highlights the inherent volatility and changing demand patterns that have come to characterize Nigeria’s official foreign exchange market. Before this downturn, the market had enjoyed three consecutive weeks of accelerating momentum, climbing steadily from $2.32 billion in mid-June to a three-month high in early July. Operating under the unified, market-determined exchange rate framework introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the FMDQ data confirms that the foundational liquidity of the official market remains intact, even as participants pull back from recent peaks. Newsscroll.
