CBN Sells Another $250m to Prop up Naira Value

• CBN Sells Another $250m to Prop up Naira Value

The central bank of Nigeria on Monday sold another $250 million to reduce market illiquidity and prop up the Naira value.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said $100 million was injected into the interbank market, while both the Small and Medium Enterprises and Invisible segments were appropriated $85 million and $65 million respectively.

Okorafor further stated that the apex bank would inject more liquidity into the foreign exchange market in the coming days, noting that the intervention was necessary to enhance Naira stability by ensuring that pressures on the market from those seeking forex for school fees and vacation were eased.

The Naira improved by N3 from N370 per US dollar to N367 on the parallel market.

On the Investors’ window, the local currency closes at N359.58 against the US dollar, better than the N366.79 recorded on Friday.

Also, the Naira remain moderately stable against the British pound and the Euro-single currencies, traded at N478 and N433 respectively.

Traders were optimistic that the Naira would remain stable in the days ahead.

“While intermittent intervention is imperative to forex stability, reviving the manufacturing sector through the federal government diversification agenda remains key to long term sustainability and economic growth,” said Samed Olukoya, a foreign exchange research analyst at Investors king Ltd.

Inflation rate declined for a sixth consecutive month in July to 16.05 percent from 16.10 percent in June. The lowest since July 2016.