As part of its determination to sustain its intervention in the nation’s foreign exchange market and encouraged by the results so far, including the market stability in the exchange of the Naira and the ongoing rate convergence in the various segments, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Monday, said it injected a further $195m into the inter-bank market.
The amount, which followed requests of customers in the various segments of the market, follows last week’s intervention to the tune of over $800m.
Monday’s intervention showed that $100m to authorized dealers in the interbank, while wholesale window, while $50m was allocated to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window. The invisibles segment got $45m to meet the needs of those who applied for Forex to settle Business/Personal Travel Allowances, school tuition, and medicals, etc.
Confirming the figures in the latest round of intervention, Isaac Okorafor, CBN’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, also announced a retail option submitted on Monday, adding that the results would be released subsequently.
He said the apex bank would continue to ensure adherence to its forex policy by insisting on transparency of all stakeholders to guarantee stability in the market.
It will be recalled that the CBN made two major interventions in the inter-bank Forex market last week totaling $831.5m, just as figures released indicated that it had boosted transactions at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) segment of the market to the tune of $2.2bn.
Also last week, the CBN, in a bid to tackle inflation, unveiled plans to mop up a total of N200.322 billion from the Nigerian banking system through a special Open Market Operation (OMO) at the rate of 16 per cent per annum.
Meanwhile, the Naira continued to maintain its stability in the FOREX market, exchanging at an average of N364/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Monday, June 19, 2017.