Following the decisions reached at the end of its two-day Monetary Policy Committee Meeting on Tuesday, May 23, 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on announced the injection of yet another $186.5m to meet the foreign exchange needs of customers for invisibles such as tuition fees, BTA, PTA and medical bills, as well as the Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) segments.
A breakdown of the figure shows that while $36.5m was injected into the invisibles segment, $50m is for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and $100 injected into the wholesale segment.
The apex bank also approved the sale of $100m at the Wholesale Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) auction announced on Monday, May 22, 2017.
Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, told journalists on the sideline of the MPC briefing by CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, confirmed that the sales at both the invisible and wholesale segments were settled on Tuesday, May 23, 2017.
Okorafor reiterated that the apex bank will continue to make every necessary intervention in the interbank market to sustain the supply of forex to meet legitimate foreign exchange demands by customers.
The efforts of the CBN in sustaining the intervention in the forex market, he continued, is already beginning to record some positive effects, with the Naira making steady gain against major currencies.
This, he continued, goes to reaffirms the CBN Governor’s pledge at the Tuesday Monetary Policy Committee press briefing on the need to sustain the FOREX intervention to ensure the convergence of the forex rates.
There are strong indications, according to market analysts that the Naira is likely to maintain an average exchange rate below N375 to $1 in no distant time.
