By Odunewu Segun
The Nigerian Naira ended the month of July trading strong at the parallel segment of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market. It retained the rate of N365 to the United States of America Dollar at the black Market, same rate at which it traded last week.
The naira also closed firm against the British Pound Sterling, trading at N474/£1 at the black market.
However, the Naira gained two points against the European Single Currency, Euro, to close the month at N422, from the previous rate of N424. Meanwhile, at the official interbank or spot FX market, the local currency remained at N305.65/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ended July with another $195 million injection into various segments of the foreign exchange market as part of its strategies to stabilize exchange rate.
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A breakdown of yesterday’s disbursement shows that $100 million was channeled into wholesale auction at the inter-bank market as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisible segments, got $50 million and $45 million, respectively.
Confirming the figures, the CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said the bank’s intervention was in line with its commitment to sustain liquidity in the market to meet genuine requests as well as deepen flexibility in the foreign exchange market.
He said the CBN would continue working on achieving the objective of convergence between the exchange rates at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX) and the Bureau-de-Change segments of the market, even as he assured proper surveillance of the forex market to guarantee transparency in the sale of foreign exchange.
Monday’s sale follows the major intervention, last Friday, to the tune of $462,336,426.74, comprising $267,336,426.74 for the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS), $100,000,000 for wholesale interventions, $50,000,000 for the SMEs forex window and $45,000,000 for invisibles.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), has called for calm among its members on the present reality. According to