CBN Buoys Forex Market with $210m
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in its quest to guarantee the availability of forex for customers’ needs in various segments of the market, has injected another sum of $210million into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.
Figures obtained from the Bank on Monday, March 12, 2018, indicate that the CBN offered $100million to authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received the sum of $55 million. Customers requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated the sum of $55 million.
The Bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department (CCD), Mr. Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the figures and reassured the public that the Bank would continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market in line with its desire to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability. He added that the steps taken so far by the Bank in the management of forex was paying off, as reflected by reduction in the country’s import bills and accretion to its foreign reserves which stood at $46 billion as at Friday, March 9, 2018.
It will be recalled that last Friday, the Bank injected the sum of $355.43m into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
Meanwhile, the naira continued its stability in the FOREX market, exchanging at an average of N360/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Monday, March 12, 2018.
On the performance of the foreign exchange market in the out-going year, Okorafor noted with sense of satisfaction that the Naira exchange rate had not only remained stable and that accretion to the foreign reserves is sustained but the Bank had so far met all the legitimate demands from genuine customers.
He further reiterated that “the steps taken so far by the Bank in the management of forex was paying off, as reflected by reduction in the country’s import bills and accretion to its foreign reserves which stood at $46 billion recently”.
