Naira drops at I&E FX window, closes at 364/$ at parallel market
.Steadies at official FX market
.As CBN injects fresh $210m into FX market
Amidst sustained intervention in the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation’s currency dropped by 0.07 per cent on Monday to close at N360.65, while the parallel market segment relapsed to 364 per dollar, respectively, Checks by The Daily Times Nigeria has revealed.
The apex on Monday injected $210 million into the interbank foreign exchange market as part of its attempt to boost liquidity and alleviate dollar shortages.
Although, the official forex market remained unchanged at 305.80 to the dollar, the same rate it traded last Thursday and the last trading day of last week.
Also, at the parallel market, the Naira depreciated significantly against the three major foreign currencies, Dollar, Pound sterling and Euro at 364, 487 and 433, respectively, as against 363, 485 and 431 traded over the weekend.
The I&E FX window, had closed the previous week high at 360.41 to the dollar but relapsed as at close of yesterday trading activities to record new rate of 360.65, which was weaker than 360. 14 exchanged last Monday.
The bank said in a statement it had released $100 million earmarked for the wholesale market, $55m for small businesses, and $55m for certain dollar expenses such as school fees and medical bills.
The bank, in an emailed statement, said it would continue to intervene in the foreign exchange market to sustain liquidity.
It would be recalled that the apex bank had intervened in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market with the total sum of $262.5m on Friday to stabilize the market.
According to CBN, the sum was in favour of the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
The Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications at the Bank, Mr. Isaac Okorafor confirmed the figures, noting that the releases remained targeted at boosting production and trade in addition to sustaining liquidity in the market.
According to him, the CBN would not relent in its resolve to make the inter-bank forex market liquid; stressing that the bank was committed to driving economic growth and guaranteeing stability in the market.
He had also reiterated that the bank’s intervention had effectively checked the activities of speculators, assuring that the Bank would continue to monitor, thoroughly, the activities of authorised dealers in order to checkmate possible sharp practices.
Meanwhile, due to low investors’ confidence and foreign exchange scarcity in 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) in a bid to ease the difficulties encountered by Nigerians, in April last year created the I& E FX window.
The Daily Times checks showed that the NAFEX window as at close of the year 2017, recorded total transactions turnover of $25.65billion in just nine months of operations in 2017.
Motolani Oseni
