CBN Lifts Forex Market With $210m

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Tuesday, continued its weekly intervention in different segments of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange market with the sum of $210 million.

The CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the figures, said the latest intervention is to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the foreign exchange 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.

It will be recalled that last week, CBN approved an upward review of the trading margin available to operators of Bureau De Change (BDC) in the country, allowing BDC operators could buy the United States dollar from the CBN at the rate of N357/$1 and sell at N360, thereby leaving them with a positive margin of N3.00 per dollar sold.

Okorafor reiterated the Bank’s commitment to continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market, in line with its pledge to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability.

The CBN spokesman was upbeat that the apex Bank would sustain its strategic management of forex, with a view to reducing the country’s import bills and halting depletion of its foreign reserves.

The Bank last Monday intervened to the tune of $210 million to cater for requests in the wholesale segment of the market.

Meanwhile, the naira continued its stability, exchanging at an average of N360/$1 in the BDC segment on Tuesday.