{"id":302,"date":"2026-05-18T19:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:19:06","slug":"naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Naira Softens Slightly in Official Market as Reserves Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Nigerian naira edged lower against the US dollar at the official foreign exchange window on Thursday, a modest move that contrasted with a steady rate in the parallel market even as the country\u2019s foreign reserves climbed.<\/p>\n<h2>Official market: small daily slide<\/h2>\n<p>Figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the naira weakened to <strong>N1,370.89 per dollar<\/strong> on Thursday, compared with <strong>N1,370.56<\/strong> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That represents a day-to-day depreciation of <strong>N0.33<\/strong> against the dollar in the official market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Parallel market: rate unchanged<\/h2>\n<p>In the black market, the currency held steady at <strong>N1,395 per dollar<\/strong>, matching the rate recorded since Monday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The parallel-market exchange rate remained flat at <strong>N1,395<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Reserves rise, but FX performance stays mixed<\/h2>\n<p>The uneven movement across Nigeria\u2019s foreign exchange venues came even after an improvement in external buffers. Foreign reserves increased to <strong>$48.51 billion<\/strong> as of <strong>May 13, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Thursday\u2019s slight softening on the official screen, the naira had strengthened against the dollar in that same official market on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nigerian naira edged lower against the US dollar at the official foreign exchange window on Thursday, a modest move that contrasted with a steady rate in the parallel market even as the country\u2019s foreign reserves climbed. Official market: small daily slide Figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the naira weakened to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s","mma_seo_breadcrumb_text":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_url":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_hide_ui":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_labels":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zalebs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1175\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"705\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zibuyile Dladla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zibuyile Dladla\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\"},\"headline\":\"Naira Softens Slightly in Official Market as Reserves Rise\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":174,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/\",\"name\":\"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\"},\"description\":\"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp\",\"width\":1175,\"height\":705},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Naira Softens Slightly in Official Market as Reserves Rise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Zalebs\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e\",\"name\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zibuyile Dladla\"},\"description\":\"Zibuyile began her media journey as a sales intern at Mediamark (Kagiso Media) before moving into digital content creation for ZAlebs.com. Over four years, she helped evolve the platform from a simple blog into one of South Africa\u2019s leading independent entertainment news sites. Following ZAlebs\u2019 transition to Celebrity Worx in 2016, Zibuyile was promoted to Executive Editor, recognized for her sharp audience insight and ability to match editorial with branded content. Highlights of her time include a Bookmark Award nomination, judging TLC\u2019s Next Great Presenter, reporting from the MTV EMAs, and building partnerships with radio stations like YFM, Cliff Central, and Good Hope FM. Her editorial work also expanded to include fast-growing digital verticals\u2014such as lifestyle tech, online entertainment, and gambling-related content\u2014tailored to evolving reader interests and brand opportunities.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/za.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/zibuyile-dladla-9a26628a\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zalebs.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/zibuyile-dladla\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise","description":"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise","og_description":"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s","og_url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/","og_site_name":"Zalebs","article_published_time":"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1175,"height":705,"url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Zibuyile Dladla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zibuyile Dladla","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/"},"author":{"name":"Zibuyile Dladla","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e"},"headline":"Naira Softens Slightly in Official Market as Reserves Rise","datePublished":"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/"},"wordCount":174,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/","name":"Naira Softens in Official FX Market as Reserves Rise","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-18T16:19:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e"},"description":"Naira slips to N1,370.89 per dollar in Nigeria\u2019s official FX market as central bank reserves rise, while the parallel rate holds s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dollar-naira-exchange-rate-today-7802.webp","width":1175,"height":705},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/naira-softens-slightly-in-official-market-as-reserves-rise\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Naira Softens Slightly in Official Market as Reserves Rise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/","name":"Zalebs","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6da1a9a659a2b9fb37587bf050637d1e","name":"Zibuyile Dladla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f581f0bb57ed4fd97eeb8353242d5a3c12548c2ff26373e9e5be1e00d4fad05?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zibuyile Dladla"},"description":"Zibuyile began her media journey as a sales intern at Mediamark (Kagiso Media) before moving into digital content creation for ZAlebs.com. Over four years, she helped evolve the platform from a simple blog into one of South Africa\u2019s leading independent entertainment news sites. Following ZAlebs\u2019 transition to Celebrity Worx in 2016, Zibuyile was promoted to Executive Editor, recognized for her sharp audience insight and ability to match editorial with branded content. Highlights of her time include a Bookmark Award nomination, judging TLC\u2019s Next Great Presenter, reporting from the MTV EMAs, and building partnerships with radio stations like YFM, Cliff Central, and Good Hope FM. Her editorial work also expanded to include fast-growing digital verticals\u2014such as lifestyle tech, online entertainment, and gambling-related content\u2014tailored to evolving reader interests and brand opportunities.","sameAs":["https:\/\/za.linkedin.com\/in\/zibuyile-dladla-9a26628a"],"url":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/author\/zibuyile-dladla\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zalebs.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}