Barely 48 hours after intervening in the Inter-Bank segment of the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market with $210 million on Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday released another $100 million into the market to facilitate customers’ access to foreign exchange.
According to the apex bank, Thursday’s intervention is informed by the need to further accommodate the rising seasonal demand for Forex by bank customers to meet various personal obligations, particularly pilgrimage.
The bank also expressed its intention to sustain its to inject more US dollars into the market as the days roll by to checkmate any attempt to trigger artificial scarcity of dollar in the market.
The Bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, stated that the move had become imperative in order to protect customers from the activities of speculators who might want to capitalize on the current increase in dollar demand to make brisk gains.
Restating the apex bank’s capacity to meet genuine demand for Forex at all times, Okorafor advised dealers against speculative acts, warning that they will lose if they decided to hoard currencies in anticipation of a spike in demand and a depreciation in the value of the naira.
The apex bank had on Wednesday frowned at the action of some banks that reportedly refused to sell Forex to customers requiring the currency for the purpose of pilgrimage or Personal and Business Travel Allowance (PTA/BTA).
It threatened to sanction any of the commercial banks that indulge in such act of economic sabotage.
