CBN injects another $210m into Forex market

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has again injected 210 million dollars into the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market in continuation of its intervention in the sector.

A statement by Mr Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, in Abuja on Wednesday, said the intervention was to enable market operators meet the requests of customers.

Giving a breakdown of the figures he said CBN offered 100 million dollars to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market.

He said 55 million dollars each was allocated to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment and the invisibles segment to meet the needs of tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others.

He said that the continued intervention by the bank was in line with Mr Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor’s commitment to ensure liquidity in the market and reduce pressure on the naira.

Okorafor said that the CBN was pleased with the current market situation brought about by policies it had put in place to check forex speculators, round trippers and rent-seekers.

According to him, these policies have helped to stabilise the exchange rate in addition to the establishment of the Investors-Exporters window, which has increased forex supply with over 20 billion dollars inflow since its inception.

He added that the bank would not relent in its effort to manage the country’s forex with a view to reducing its import bills and checking any hemorrhage of its foreign reserves.

He recalled that the CBN, in its last intervention on April 10, injected 210 million dollars to cater for requests in the various segments of the forex market.

Meanwhile, the naira continues its stability in the FOREX market, exchanging at an average of N360 per dollar in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market on Wednesday.