The retail segment of Nigeria’s inter-bank foreign exchange market got a $254.3m boost from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, July 7, 2017, following bids received from forex dealers by the apex Bank.
The amount which represents requests from the various sectors in its Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), thereby providing a lift to the respective sectors, the apex bank said, was sold to companies in the raw materials, agricultural, airline and petroleum industry.
Acting Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the development, explained that the sale was in response to bids received from authorized dealers, on behalf of their customers, at the retail auction announced by the CBN on Wednesday, July 5, 2017.
He recalled that that the apex bank, at its last intervention in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) on June 23, 2017, injected a total of $240m for spot and forward deals, just as it intervened with the total sum of $390 million in the wholesale, SMEs and invisibles segments of the market on June 28 and July 3, 2017.
Speaking further, Okorafor said the CBN remained very committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for their business concerns.
Meanwhile, the Naira, on Friday, July 7, 2017, exchanged at an average of N364/$1 in the Bureau de Change segment (BDCs) across major trading points in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Kano.