CBN Intervenes With Fresh $308.5m

• CBN Intervenes With Fresh $308.5m

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday injected another $308.5 million into the foreign exchange market.

The intervention was to ensure foreign exchange liquidity in the market and deepen the ongoing economic policy.

Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the acting director, corporate communications department of the CBN said the intervention was part of the apex bank intermittent interventions to sustain market liquidity and meet genuine demands in the market.

According to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, foreign exchange inflows tick up by 1.98 percent in August, when compared with the preceding month. Adding that the external reserves surged to US$33 billion at the close of business on September 25. Suggesting that the rising global oil prices is fueling surge in revenue generation and renewed business confidence.

Click Brent Crude Oil Jumps To 26-Month High As Kurds Holds Referendum to read more on oil prices.

“Total foreign exchange inflows through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rose by 1.98 percent in August 2017, compared with the previous month. Similarly, total outflow increased by 7.03 percent during the same period as a result of increased international remittances, inclusive of public sector and JVC payments, which rose by 58.59 per cent in the period under review,” Emefiele had said.

Also, the new foreign exchange policy introduced in April has boosted forex liquidity, economic activities and business confidence, which as seen the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 7.2 percent from 33,117.48 in June to 35,504.62 in August and Investors & Exporters forex window traded over US$7 billion in volume.

While the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, left interest rate unchanged at 14 percent against the pervasive call for lower policy rate to further stimulate the economy through job creation and mass participation of local players. The Mr. Godwin Emefiele led MPC has managed to moderately converge the foreign exchange rates at the bureau-de-change (BDC) segment of the FX market, the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) segment and the parallel market.

The Naira gained N2 against the US dollar to N364 on the parallel market, appreciated from N366 it traded during the week. While it traded at N360 on the Bureau De Change segment.

“The committee will continue to introduce policies that will improve the confidence of foreign investors in the country’s macroeconomic management regime,” Emefiele added.