The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured that it is in the position to defend the integrity of the naira.
The assertion came on a day that the apex bank intervened in the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) to the tune of $325.64 million.
Figures obtained on Friday indicated that the amount released was for requests from the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
The figures were confirmed by the Bank’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who noted that the continued intervention is in line with the assurances made by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade.
According to Okorafor, the feedback from the wholesale and retail segments of the Nigerian Forex markets show that customers are satisfied with their level of access to foreign exchange.
He said the degree of optimism by the players underscores the fact that everyone is happy with the level of transparency in the market.
Therefore, he assured that, with the recession over and foreign reserve now standing at $42 billion, the CBN has enough in its kitty to maintain the international value of the Naira as well as guarantee access to forex by those requiring it to meet genuine needs.
He also reiterated the desire by the Bank to ensure that all, particularly low-end users, have access to foreign exchange to meet genuine needs prompted the Bankers’ Committee, in its first meeting of 2018, to agree to sell United States dollars to those requiring it for Invisibles at the rate of N360/$1, without any commission whatsoever.
The CBN in its last SMIS in January 2018, injected about $304.4 million into the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market.
Meanwhile, the naira exchanged at N361/$1 in the bureau de change (BDC) segment of the market.