CBN injects 247.8m, CNY 34.8m into Retail SMIS
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, April 5, 2019, made an intervention of $247.8million in the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY 34.8million in the spot and short tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign market.
This was disclosed by the Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, who revealed that the intervention was for requests in the agricultural and raw materials sectors. The Chinese Yuan, on the other hand, was for Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit.
Mr. Okorafor further expressed satisfaction over the continued stability of the foreign exchange which, according to him, was largely due to sustained intervention by the Bank. He assured that the apex Bank Management would remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors of the forex market continue to enjoy access to the needed foreign exchange.
Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N360 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY1 exchanged at N53.
Economic Confidential recalled that in March this year the Central Bank of Nigeria, injected $268.60m and CNY39.09m in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales of the foreign exchange market.
CBN had stated then that the figures of the sales consummated revealed that the sums were injected to meet requests of customers in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
The apex bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, also confirmed that the sum of CNY39.09m was for the payment of Renminbi-denominated letters of credit for agriculture as well as raw materials.
The transaction was in addition to the $210m injected into the Wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Invisibles segments of the market same week, the bank said.
Okorafor expressed satisfaction on the performance and stability of the economy, especially after the country’s 2019 general elections.
He attributed the level of stability to the bank’s transparency in foreign exchange transactions and interventions aimed at the diversification of the economy.
