The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday continued its intervention in the inter-bank sector of the Foreign Exchange market, injecting $210 million in the wholesale segment and other sectors of the market.
Details of the intervention showed about $100 million went to the wholesale sector of the market, while the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles sectors received $55 million each.
CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, said Tuesday’s interventions, like the previous intermediations, were in line with the Bank’s commitment to sustain the stability in the FOREX market.
Mr Okorafor said the intervention effort was to continually ease access to the currency by those requiring it for genuine business and other activities to boost the economy.
He said the role of players in the market in maintaining stability was commendable, just as he said the CBN was ready to inject more funds into the market whenever and wherever necessary to maintain market stability and sustain the financial system.
The financial sector regulator, Mr Okorafor said, was further encouraged by recent gains in the foreign exchange sector, which had pushed the country’s foreign reserves closer to the $50 billion mark.
At the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the Bank expects the foreign reserves to soar to the $50 billion mark before the end of the year.
“The country’s reserve has continued to enjoy accretion. The present reserves status at the Bank (about $47.93 billion) means the CBN was capable of sustaining foreign exchange liquidity in the system,” Mr Okorafor said.
Tuesday’s intervention came as one United States Dollar exchanged for N361 in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market.
In its previous interventions on Friday, April 20, 2018, $396.18million was injected into the retail secondary market intervention sales (SMIS).
