Forex: CBN Lifts Retail SMIS With $325.64m

The Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) of the foreign exchange market has received a boost of $325.64 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This was according to CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who made the disclosure in a statement on Friday.

Okarafor revealed that the latest figures released by the apex bank was to cater to Forex requests from agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors of the country.

He said, “the feedback from the wholesale and retail segments of the Nigerian Forex markets showed that customers were satisfied with their level of access to foreign exchange.”

The CBN Director further confirmed The WHISTLER’s exclusive report that the country’s external reserves had risen to $42 billion from the previous amount of $40.4 billion.

He expressed confidence in the Bank’s ability to maintain the international value of the Naira given the country’s new external reserves figures and its total exit from recession.

Okarafor said the CBN will continue to ensure the availability of Forex to low-end users, noting that naira as of Friday, February 9, 2018, exchanged against the dollar at N361/$1.