Yemisi Izuora
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at the weekend lifted the sum $303.91 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales. This is in addition to the sale of CNY 46.58 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards.
The figures obtained from the CBN showed that the US dollar-denominated interventions were only for concerns in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.
Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, said that the exercise which was in tune with the CBN guidelines, were for the payment of Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture as well as raw materials. He added that the sales in the Chinese Yuan were through a combination of spot and short-tenored forwards, arising from bids received from authorized dealers.
While noting that availability of Renminbi was sure to ease pressure on the Nigerian foreign exchange market, Mr. Okorafor attributed the relative stability in the foreign exchange market to the intervention of the CBN as well as the sustained increase in crude oil prices in the international market. He further assured that the CBN would remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the needed foreign exchange by Nigerians.
It will be recalled that the Bank on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 intervened to the tune of $210 million to cater for requests in the wholesale segment of the forex market.