By Abisola THOMPSON
In another round of intervention, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday injected 289.76 million dollars in the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).
The CBN also intervened to the tune of 38.70 million Chinese Yuan in the Spot and Short tenored forwards of the foreign exchange market.
The CBN Spokesman, Mr Isaac Okorafor, in a statement in Abuja explained that the move was in furtherance of the bank’s commitment to ensuring adequate liquidity and stability in the market.
Okorafor said that the dollar-denominated interventions were mainly for transactions in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.
He said the sales in Chinese Yuan were similarly for payment of renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture and raw materials based on bids received from authorised dealers.
Okorafor said the apex bank was pleased with the level of stability at both the Bureau-de-Change and the Investors’ and Exporters’ window of the foreign exchange market.
According to him, the CBN is also satisfied with the current implementation of the Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement with the Peoples Bank of China.
Okorafor expressed confidence that the foreign exchange market in Nigeria would continue to enjoy stability in the coming months and beyond, given the marginal increase in the country’s external reserves.
The CBN on Tuesday intervened in the wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles windows of the inter-bank foreign exchange market to the tune of 210 million dollars.
Meanwhile, one dollar exchanged for N361 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while one Chinese Yuan exchanged for ——-NAN
