Forex: CBN boosts Retail SMIS with $321.4m

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forex intervention has boosted the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) to the tune of $321.4 million.

Figures obtained from the Bank on Friday, February 23, 2018, indicate that the amount released was for requests in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor confirmed the figures and noted that the continued intervention were in line with the assurances made by the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade and maintain stability in the forex market.

Speaking further, Okorafor assured that the CBN remained very committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for the business concerns.

It will be recalled that the CBN in its last SMIS, earlier in February 2018, injected the sum of $325.64 million in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.

Meanwhile, the naira exchanged at N361/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Friday, February 23, 2018. Also commenting recently on how far the CBN would go to sustain its market interventions, its governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele said: “I have said it and I will repeat myself that the interventions will be more vigorous than ever to underscore the fact that we are determined to ensure that the Nigerian economy recovers by making sure that foreign exchange is made available to operators of the economy to conduct their businesses.”