CBN provides special forex intervention for airlines, fuel marketers in FX auction

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to help commercial banks clear the backlogs of matured outstanding dollar obligations for some sectors of the economy as it looks to close its books this Friday ahead of its financial year end and the Christmas period.

The apex bank on Monday instructed commercial lenders to submit backlog dollar demand from fuel importers, airlines, raw materials and machinery for manufacturing firms and agricultural chemicals for a special forex intervention.

The instruction asked banks to submit bids for a “special currency auction” to clear the backlogs, traders said.

It is believed that the central bank plans to sell “funded forwards of two to five months tenor” dollars to the targeted sectors at an auction ahead of the closure of the forex market for the year.

Nigeria’s economy went into recession in the year and that has led to acute shortage of forex as foreign investors mopped up their funds due to dwindled confidence.