CBN Lifts Forex Market With $210m

As part of its commitment to guarantee availability of forex for customers’ needs, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the sum of $210 million into different segments of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.

Isaac Okorafor, the CBN’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, who confirmed the figures on Monday, said the latest intervention is meant to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the market.

A breakdown of the Bank’s latest round of intervention indicates that the CBN offered the sum of $100 million to dealers in the wholesale window, while those in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received an allocation of $55 million.

The invisibles segment, comprising Business/Personal Travel Allowances, school tuition, medicals, was allocated the sum of $55 million.

Okorafor reassured the public that the Bank would continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market, in line with its determination to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability.

The CBN spokesman explained that the measures put in place by the apex 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.

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 as of Monday, march 12, 2018, continued its stability in the Forex market, exchanging at an average of N360/$1 in the BDC segment.