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 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, Mr. Isaac Okorafor reiterated the bank’s commitment to continually intervene in the market aimed at sustaining liquidity as well as boosting production and trade.
Okorafor said the bank is now in a 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 momentum due to an upsurge in the non-oil sector, he said.
With the rates closing at N360 to the dollar on Friday, Okorafor expressed confidence that the bank’s forex intervention underscores its determination to maintain the country’s external reserves, in order to safeguard the international value of the Naira.
The CBN in its last SMIS, injected about $321.4 million into 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.