The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Friday again intervened in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales, SMIS, with $325.64 million injected into the segment of the forex market.
Figures obtained from the bank on the intervention showed that the amount released was specifically meant for demands in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
The figures were confirmed by the apex bank’s Acting Director Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, who noted that the continued intervention were in line with the assurances made by the Governor of the Bank, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade.
According to the communications expert, the feedback from the wholesale and retail segments of the forex market showed that customers were satisfied with their level of access to foreign exchange. He said the degree of optimism displayed by all players underscored the fact that everyone was happy with the level of transparency in the market.
Okorafor assured that with the recession now over and foreign reserves now standing at $42 billion, the country had enough reserves from which the apex bank could use to stabilize the Naira exchange rate against other international currencies as well as guarantee access to forex by those requiring it to meet genuine needs.
He also reiterated that the desire of the CBN to ensure that all, particularly low end users, had access to foreign exchange to meet genuine needs prompted the Bankers’ Committee, in its first meeting of 2018, to agree to sell United States dollars to those requiring it for invisibles at the rate of N360/$1, without any commission whatsoever.
It would be recalled that the CBN in its last SMIS, in January 2018, injected the sum of $304.4 million in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market.
Meanwhile, the Naira on Friday exchanged at N361/$1 in the BDC segment of the market.
