CBN moves to stabilize naira, pumps $543m, ¥63m into forex market

*Retail segment receives $323m boost

*Wholesale segment gets $100m

*SMEs, Invisibles get $55m each

In another major round of interventions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) late last week, injected a total sum of $543.22 million and ¥63.21 million into the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

At last Thursday’s trading, the CBN offered the sum of $100,000,000 as wholesale interventions and allocated the sum of $55,000,000 to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) forex window. Also, the invisibles window, which caters for customers requiring forex for business/personal travel allowances, tuition and medical fees among others, received $55 million.

Similarly, on Friday, August 24, 2018, the CBN injected the sum of $323.22 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales and sold a total of  ¥63.21 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards, arising from bids received from authorized dealers

Isaac Okorafor, the CBN spokesperson, who confirmed the figures, said the bank remained committed to maintaining the country’s external reserves to safeguard the international value of the naira in line with its mandate.

According to him, CBN’s management of the forex market had entrenched transparency in the market and continued to strengthen the value of the naira against other major currencies of the world.

On the sale of Chinese Yuan (Renminbi), Okorafor disclosed that it was in line with the CBN guidelines, which stipulate that it would be for the payment of Renminbi denominated letters of credit for agriculture as well as raw materials.

While also noting that availability of the Chinese currency would ease pressure on the Nigerian foreign exchange market, he attributed the relative stability in the foreign exchange market to the intervention of the CBN as well as the sustained increase in crude oil prices in the international market.

He further pledged that the CBN would ensure that the requirements of customers in all sectors of the foreign exchange market are guaranteed access to required foreign exchange.

Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N360 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while ¥1 exchanged for N53.17.