CBN Injects Fresh $210m into Interbank Forex Market

Nume Ekeghe

The Nigerian inter-bank foreign exchange market received another boost of $210 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) following transactions concluded the previous day.

The CBN Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, disclosed this, adding that authorised dealers in the wholesale sector of the market received $100 million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the invisibles segments were allocated the sum of $55 million each.

A statement quoted Okorafor to have also said the Bank’s management remained particularly pleased with the prevailing stability in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

According to him, the CBN management, as noted by the Governor in his post-Monetary Policy Committee meeting briefing on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, welcomed the continued stability in the foreign exchange market and the steady accretion to country’s external reserves.

The spokesman said the CBN would therefore continue its intervention in the forex market to ensure liquidity, maintain stability and meet customers’ demand.

At the last Bank trading, the sum of $298.7 million and CNY39.6 million were injected into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and in the spot and short tenured forwards segments of the foreign exchange market.

Meanwhile, the Naira on Wednesday, July 24, 2019 exchange at an average of N357/$1 in the BDC segment of the market.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday left interest rate unchanged. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, told journalists at the end of a two-day meeting in Abuja, that the apex bank was not in a hurry to bring down the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) otherwise known as interest rate.