The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, announced the injection of a further $210m to boost liquidity in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.
A breakdown, according to CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, shows that while $100m was offered to players in the wholesale segment, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment got $55m.
The invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated $55m, in what according to him, were part of effort aimed at boosting liquidity in the forex market, facilitating trade and easing remittances for legitimate personal commitments.
Attributing the long spell of calm in the market to the interventions of the CBN and the cooperation of all stakeholders, Okorafor said the convergence of rates between the interbank market and the Bureau de Change segments, had all but converged with customers able to buy forex from either market at not more than N362 to a dollar.
In spite of the development, he stressed that the CBN would continue in its monitoring of the market in order to ensure that authorised dealers abide by the extant rules.
Meanwhile, the naira maintained its steady rate against the United States Dollar, exchanging for N361/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Tuesday, November 28, 2017.