CBN injects $250m as Naira stables

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday, injected $250 million into the foreign exchange market.

Meanwhile, the naira remained stable against the dollar in the parallel market and in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market. Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, announced the intervention in a statement issued yesterday.

He said: “The CBN intervened in the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market to the tune of $250m in three segments of the market. In the wholesale segment of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange market, it sold $100 million and also uplifted the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisible segments, with the sum of $85 million and $65million respectively.” Okorafor reiterated that in a bid to improve liquidity and ameliorate challenges encountered by critical stakeholders at this time of the year, the Bank had ensured that pressures on the market from those seeking forex for school fees and vacations were eased.

He said further that the Bank has kept faith with its resolve to ensure that there is sustained liquidity to meet genuine requests for forex. Meanwhile, Data from Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) showed that the indicative exchange rate for the I&E window, known as Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) rose by 2 kobo to N359.58 per dollar yesterday from N359.56 per dollar last week Friday, indicative relative stability for the naira. Similarly, the parallel market closed at N370 per dollar, same as the closing rate last Friday.