CBN Strengthens Forex Market With $210m

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 Tuesday, said the latest intervention were in line with the Bank’s commitment to sustain the high level of stability in the Forex market and continually ease access to the currency by those requiring it for genuine activities.

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, while commending the role of every player in the market, said the CBN was ready to inject funds into the market, whenever and wherever necessary, in order to maintain market stability as well as sustain the financial system.

He also said the financial regulator was further buoyed by recent gains in the foreign exchange sector, which had seen the country’s reserves soar closer to the $50 billion mark.

Speaking further, Okorafor said the country’s reserves continued to enjoy accretion, adding that the present reserves status at the Bank meant that the CBN was capable of sustaining foreign exchange liquidity in the system.

Tuesday’s intervention came as one United States Dollar (US$1) exchanged for N361 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market.

Meanwhile, it will be recalled that the CBN in its last interventions last Friday, injected the sum of $396.18million into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
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