Naira strengthens as CBN lifts forex market with $210m

Motolani Oseni

The Nigerian currency, Naira, at the end of yesterday trading activities strengthened at the interbank foreign exchange market to close at an appreciable rate of N306.95 per US Dollar at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate,

against N307 that has been trading since the beginning of April.

This is even as the apex bank lifted the forex market with total injections of $210 million on Tuesday.

At the Investors & Exporters Foreign Exchange (I &E FX) window, the local currency, appreciated by 0.02per cent to N360.23 against the Dollar, but closed flat at N360.00 at the parallel market.

The special forex window, however, recorded total transactions turnover of $111.79 million, with trades consummated within the N356.00-N362.00/Dollar band.

But stood steady at an average rate of N360/$1 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the forex market

Meanwhile, the figures obtained from the CBN on Tuesday, authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market were offered the sum of $100million.

Similarly, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received the sum of $55 million.

Customers requiring foreign exchange for Invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated the sum of $55 million.

The Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Isaac Okorafor confirmed the transactions adding that the effort of the Bank had helped to reduce exchange rate pressures across all segments of the market.

According to him, the stability of the exchange rate underscored the level of confidence investors and the public had in the Naira.

The overnight lending rate crashed 2,550 basis points to close at 17.43per cent as market players were able to access liquidity from the CBN’s Standing Lending Facility window.