Yemisi Izuora
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has injected a total of $142.5 million into the inter-bank foreign exchange, days after intervening in the retail segment of the market with the sum of $254.3million.
A breakdown of the Monday’s intervention indicates that the Bank offered the sum of $100million to dealers in the wholesale segment, while it allocated the sum of $23 million to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment. Those requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) received $19.5 million.
Confirming the latest round of forex intervention, the spokesperson of the apex Bank, Isaac Okorafor, said the CBN will continue to carry out its regular mediation in the market so as to keep the market liquid and guarantee the international value of the naira in line with its mandate.
While reiterating the Bank’s resolve to intervene in the market based on bids received from dealers on behalf of their respective customers, Okorafor said the CBN will not relent in ensuring transparency and efficiency in the sale of forex. According to him, this commitment prompted the Bank to mandate dealers to make public their forex utilization. He therefore urged all stakeholders to continually play their roles to guarantee transparency in the market.
It will be recalled that the CBN last Friday intervened in the retail segment of the forex market to the tune of $254.3m following bids received from forex dealers by the apex Bank.The figure sold by the Bank was for companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industry.
Meanwhile, the naira maintained its stand at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the forex market, exchanging at an average of N364/$1 in Lagos, Abuja and Kano.
Oriental News Nigeria reports that the Nigerian inter-bank foreign exchange market was enhanced with a $254.3m boost from the CBN, at the weekend following bids received from forex dealers by the apex Bank.
The deals in the retail window Oriental News Nigeria gathered represented requests from various sectors in the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), thereby providing a boost to the respective sectors.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the forex sales, explained that the sale was in response to bids received from authorized dealers, on behalf of their customers, at the retail auction announced by the CBN on Wednesday, July 5, 2017.
He disclosed that the $254.3m sold was for companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industry.
He recalled that that the Bank, at its last intervention in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) on June 23, 2017, injected a total of $240 million for spot and forward deals, just as it intervened with the total sum of $390 million in the wholesale, SMEs and invisibles segments of the market on June 28 and July 3, 2017.
Speaking further, Okorafor said the CBN remained very committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for their business concerns