Naira maintains stability as CBN sells $285.70m

By Odunewu Segun

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday injected $285.7 million into the Inter-bank foreign exchange market in order to ease the pressure of forex demand in key sectors of the economy.

Details obtained from the CBN indicate that agricultural, airlines, petroleum and raw materials were the four sectors that received various sums of allocation from the CBN based on requests put forward by their respective banks.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, who affirmed the figure sold, went further to explain that the CBN is ready to cater for genuine forex needs in the economy through forex sales under the new flexible forex regime.

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Okarafor also highlighted that the current process underlines the high levels of transparency of the Bank in Foreign Exchange Management in Nigeria today. Although the CBN still injects forex into the inter-bank forex market to maintain liquidity, the frequency of intervention as well as the sums involved have reduced as the initial forex scarcity has been dealt with and a near-convergence of Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates was achieved.

It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria has consistently injected funds into in the interbank foreign exchange market to ensure liquidity, thereby easing pressure on the local tender currency.

Meanwhile, the naira continued to maintain its stability in the FOREX market, exchanging at an average of N360/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Friday, October 27, 2017.