CBN opens December foreign exchange market intervention with $210m

Nigeria’s central Bank in its first foreign exchange market intervention for the month of December, on Tuesday, December 4, 2018 injected the sum of $210 million in the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

Authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, in Monday’s sales, received the sum of $100 million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the invisibles segments were allocated the sum of $55 million each.

Isaac Okorafor, CBN director in charge of Corporate Communications Department, who confirmed the figures, restated the bank’s resolve to  meet genuine customers’ request in the various segments of the market especially in the preceding period of the yuletide and in the New Year.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, while delivering the annual lecture of  the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos, on Friday,  had warned speculators not to bet against the naira.

Despite the uptick in the exchange rate last week, Emefiele said the CBN had enough reserves to defend the domestic currency.

Last Friday, November 30, 2018, the central bank injected a total sum of $331.22 million in retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY51.86 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards of the
inter-bank foreign exchange market.

Meanwhile, the naira on Tuesday, December 2, 2018 continued to exchange  at an average of N365/$1 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the  market.