Against the backdrop of media reports and insinuations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have lost steam in its resolve to continue intervention in the foreign exchange segment of the nation’s inter-bank market, the apex bank on Friday assured of its intention to sustain liquidity and stability in the segment.
A statement by Isaac Okoroafor, Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, on Friday stressed that the measures being taken had yielded positive results as far as forex supply was concerned.
While acknowledging a marginal fluctuation in the exchange rate, he noted that the naira remained stable against other major currencies around the world; even as he observed that activities in the foreign exchange market remained dynamic.
According to him, the interventions of the apex bank were in line with its commitment to sustain liquidity in the market to meet genuine requests as well as deepen flexibility in the foreign exchange market.
Okorafor warned speculators against nefarious activities, adding that the CBN had put necessary checks in place to guard against sharp practices in the forex market. While stressing that there was nothing to suggest that the CBN planned to discontinue its forex intervention, even as there had been accretions in the country’s foreign reserves from $30bn to about $32bn.
Okorafor therefore urged those who genuinely require foreign exchange for their transactions to approach their banks, stressing that the banks had enough forex to meet the demands for foreign exchange.
It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria has consistently injected funds into in the interbank foreign exchange market, which received a boost of $547m in the last round of intervention.
Meanwhile the Naira exchanged at the rate of N363 to the US dollar in the Bureau de Change segment of the market on Friday, September 8, 2017.