CBN lifts forex market with injection of $298.71m
Motolani Oseni
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the last trading day of the week (Friday) lifted the foreign exchange market through another intervention of $298.71million in the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
The Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
Given the breakdown of the apex bank’s intervention figure, Okorafor said that the CBN had also injected 39.69 million Chinese Yuan (CNY) in the spot and short-tenured forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign market.
He explained further that the interventions in U.S. dollars, just as in previous transactions, were to meet requests in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.
The spokesperson added that in the same vein, the transactions in Chinese Yuan were for Renminbi-denominated Letters of Credit.
Okorafor expressed the satisfaction of the bank’s management with the stability in the foreign exchange market, adding that it would continue to make necessary interventions to ensure liquidity in the Nigerian market.
He said that the bank was further encouraged by the improved inflow of foreign exchange, which had kept the exchange rate around the N360/$1 for close to 30 months.
The director urged Nigerians to continue to support the policies of CBN aimed at boosting the production capacity of local industries as well as creating jobs for citizens.
He assured that the apex bank would remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors of the foreign exchange market continued to enjoy access to the needed foreign exchange.
Meanwhile, a dollar to the Nigerian local currency, Naira, exchanged at N360, while CNY1 exchanged at N55 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market on Friday.
