SAN FRANCISCO, March 06, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday carried out another round of retail interventions in the interbank FOREX market by providing a total sum of $367,134,329.93 to meet the forwards requests of customers.
A breakdown of the forwards shows that the sum of $144,073,753.07 was for 45 days forwards, while $223,060,576.86 was for 60 days.
The CBN Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the release, adding that the move was in line with the Bank’s determination to ease the foreign exchange pressure on various sectors through forward sales under the new flexible Foreign Exchange regime to keep the market liquidity.
The CBN has sustained intervention in the forex market since it announced a new policy over a week ago. It has pumped almost $1 billion into forwards and spot demands as well as adequately funded demand in the retail segment, to enable end users pay international school fees, medical bills, obtain BTAs and PTAs.
Analysts expect the pressure on the naira to ease with the bold move and allow the local tender narrow the gap between the wide exchange rates at the interbank and black market.
The naira was quoted at N450 – $1, up 5 points, on the streets on Monday. At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira sold at N399 – $1, while it traded at N305.50 – $1 at the interbank window.
In other segments of the market, Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Travelex, an International Money Transfer Services Operator, sold the Naira at N370 to a dollar.
Traders expressed the hope that the strengthening of the Naira would reposition the economy for greater productivity. They, however, appealed to the CBN to sustain the liquidity boost in the market so that the Naira could sustain its gains against the dollar.
