Nigerian firms see naira appeeciating in the six months into 2025 as they anticipate an improved macroeconomic environment, according to a November 2024 Business Expectation Survey (BES) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The BES report revealed that businesses expect the naira to depreciate in the current month, next month and next three months but appreciate in the next six months. They were optimistic about the overall macroeconomy.

“Their outlook on volume of business activities, financial conditions, access to credit, volume of total order and average capacity utilisation, were pessimistic,” the report said.

The naira has lost about 70 percent of its value against the dollar. In October, it was declared the third worst performing currency in the world after the Lebanese Pound and the Ethiopian Birr. In fact, it was one of the worst currencies in the world for much of 2024.

But the recent Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) which has brought more transparency and efficiency to the market, the local currency has begun to see some stability.

The naira, on Friday, appreciated against the dollar, gaining N4 to close at N1,541/$ compared to N1,545/$ closed on Wednesday at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM), data from the CBN indicated. The local currency steadied at N1,660 per dollar in the black market.

According to the report, the overall confidence index (CI) on the macroeconomy indicated that the Agriculture sector recorded the highest optimism of 59.3 points and the highest expansion plan for the month of December 2024, three months and six months into 2025.

Read also: Why the Naira may be stronger than it seems

The monthly survey was conducted from November 11 to 15, 2024, with a sample size of 1,900 business enterprises across Nigeria. The survey achieved a response rate of 99.7 percent, covering three key sectors: Industry, Services, and Agriculture.

Further analysis of the report revealed that the Construction sector expressed optimism on its own operations in November 2024 with indices standing at 1.8 points. Manufacturing sector had less optimism with -1.2 points, Agriculture (-8.1), Market Services (-10.5), Non-market services (-11.1), Mining and Quarrying, Electricity, Gas and Water Supply (-12.5).

In line with the favorable expectations, businesses hope to employ more workers in December 2024. In the BES report, all sectors reported a positive outlook for employment and expansion for all the periods under review with Agriculture recording the highest prospect for expansion in December 2024.

Seyifunmi Oderinde, a Lagos-based Human resources manager and recruitment specialist said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that companies would experience high turnover towards the end of the year.

“The end of the year naturally prompts introspection, leading many people to set development goals that may involve transitioning into new roles. Companies experience high turnover towards the end of the year due to workforce planning by hiring companies and their efforts to recruit ahead of the new year to meet their strategic objectives. For exiting employees, it is a fresh start mindset,” she said.

The BES report highlighted that Agriculture had the highest prospect for expansion in December 2024 with indices of 64 points followed by Mining and Quarying (60 points) and then Marketing services (50.6).