LYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATE FLUCTUATIONS ON NIGERIA’S BALANCE OF PAYMENT FROM 1985 TO 2022.

ABSTRACT Exchange rate fluctuation or instability due to its unpredictable nature might influence negatively the balance of payment in Nigeria. This study analyzed exchange rate fluctuation and balance of payment in Nigeria for the period 1980-2022. Specifically, the study aimed to; analyze the trends of exchange rate and balance of payment, examine the short-run relationship between exchange rate fluctuation and balance of payment, assess the long-run relationship between exchange rate fluctuation and balance of payment and investigate the determinants of balance of payment in Nigeria. To investigate the objectives an ex-post facto research design was adopted to gather time series data for the study for the period 1980-2022. The Auto-Regressive Distributed lag Model (ARDL) was used to investigate the objectives of the study except the trends analysis carried out. In adopting the ARDL model, the Bound test was carried out and revealed a F-statistics value of 14.41 which was significant at 5% at both lower and upper bound, hence, showing that a long -run relationship existed between EXR and BOP. Meanwhile, the finding of the short-run ARDL result revealed that exchange rate fluctuation negatively affected the BOP in Nigeri