CBN to Sustain Forex Intervention, Releases Fresh $418m

• CBN to Sustain Forex Intervention, Releases Fresh $418m

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Sunday vowed to sustain its intervention in the foreign exchange market to ensure liquidity in that segment of the financial sector.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, stated this in a statement issued in Abuja.

He said as part of its determination to make forex available to genuine users, the apex bank on Friday auctioned the sum of $418m at the retail segment at the rate of N310 to a dollar.

He gave the sectors of the economy that benefitted from the intervention as aviation, agriculture, petroleum and raw materials/machineries.

The statement read in part, “In its avowed determination to ensure ample supply of foreign exchange liquidity in the market, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday, 7th of April, 2017 auctioned the sum of $418m at a marginal rate of N310/$.

“This was in addition to the sum of $350m sold as wholesale auction during the week. In the weeks ahead, the CBN will sustain its intervention through the sale of foreign exchange to all segments of the market.”

The statement said the CBN would sell short-tenured forwards of seven-day to 30-day maturity to meet the demand of manufacturers and all other foreign exchange users.

The apex bank said the injection of foreign exchange into the market should reassure all users of its determination to continue to meet all legitimate forex demand in the market.

It added that the intervention was part of measures to achieve exchange rate stability in the financial market.