The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday again pumped $413.5 million into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange market to further shore up the value of the Naira.
Isaac Okorafor, acting director, Corporate Communications, CBN, said the latest intervention underscores the resolve of the CBN to sustain liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
“The CBN offered the sum of 100 million dollars to dealers in the wholesale window, while the Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, window was allocated a total of 28million dollars. The invisibles segment was allocated the sum of 25.5 million dollars to meet the needs of those requiring forex for Business and Personal Travel Allowances, school tuition, medicals, etc,” said Okorafor.
He added that the bank has also released the figures for the auction sales in the retail window last week, totaling $260 million.
Okorafor is optimistic that the Naira would continue its strong run against the dollar and other major currencies around the world. He is confident that the CBN will achieve the goal narrrowing the gap between the official and parallel market rates soon, if all stakeholders play by the rules.
The naira has remained stable in the Forex market, exchanging at N360 to a dollar at the commercial banks, N361 to a dollar at the BDCs and N363 to at the black market.