The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday supplied about $355.43 million to the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) of the foreign exchange market in its resolve to guarantee liquidity.
Figures obtained from the CBN revealed that the provision was to help meet requests in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors of the economy.
The CBB’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor reiterated the bank’s commitment to continually intervene in the market aimed at sustaining liquidity in the market as well as boosting production and trade.
Mr. Okorafor said with accretion to the country’s foreign reserve, the bank was in a much better position to ensure liquidity in the inter-bank sector of the FOREX market.
The bank will continue to intervene in order to drive growth in the economy and guarantee stability in the market, particularly now that the economy has gained steam due to an upsurge in the non-oil sector, he said.
With the rates closing at N360 to the dollar on Friday, Mr. Okorafor expressed confidence the Bank’s forex intervention underscored its determination to maintain the country’s external reserves, in order to safeguard the international value of the Naira.
The CBN, in February 2018 in its last SMIS, injected about $321.4 million in the interbank market, while also intervening in the inter-bank foreign exchange market with about $210 million.
This comprised $100million for the wholesale segment and $55 million each for both the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles segment.
