CBN boosts FOREX market with $210m injection

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Monday injected 210 million dollars into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market, in its bid to sustain liquidity in the foreign exchange market. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr Isaac Okoroafor in a statement said that the move would ensure the continuous availability of foreign exchange to customers.

Giving a breakdown, Okoroafor said that the bank offered 100 million dollars to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises segment received 55 million dollars.

He said also that customers requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated 55 million dollars. Okoroafor reassured the public that the bank would continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market in line with its desire to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability.

He also said that the steps taken so far by the apex bank in the management of foreign exchange was paying off, as reflected by reduction in the country’s import bills and accretion to its foreign reserves. The CBN also recently injected 210 million dollars into the Wholesale segment of the foreign exchange market. Meanwhile, the naira continued its stability in the foreign exchange market, exchanging at an average of N360 to a dollar in the Bureau de Change segment of the market.