THE EXCHANGE RATE AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN APPLICATION TO THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

The recent tremors in the Naira exchange rate amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is quite worrisome. Countries whose exports are not demanded in the international market because of the fear of spreading the pandemic, whose external reserves are depleted because of incessant need to import pandemic related goods, are worst hit. In such instant, exchange rate is highly fragile. The pupose of this study was to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the exchange rate in Nigeria. The Naira exchange rate was made the criterion variable and Covid-19 pandemic, disaggregated as Covid-19 new cases, Covid-19 period and Covid-19 new death were put as the predictor variables. ARDL technique was employed as informed by the unit root tests. The finding revealed that, in both short run and long run, the period of COVID-19 had significant direct impact on exchange rate in Nigeria. However, COVID-19 new cases and new deaths could not have any significant impact on exchange rate. The study therefore, suggested that Nigerians should be aware that the upsurge in the naira/dollar rate is due to the COVID-19 period. The economy should step-up other internationally demanded products like crude oil, and produce in large quantity in order to cushion the effect of low export